I've never tried this here, but it used to be fun on the bird site. I'm procrastinating. Anyone want to #askanastronomer anything?
@Chrislintott I'll bite.
Why isn't the night sky white if there's stars in all directions and the universe goes on for (practically) forever?
@thomasfuchs @Chrislintott
That observation is known as Olbers Paradox:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox
The answer is the night sky is dark because the universe is expanding, so stars further and further away are red shifted, so much so that their light is beyond the visible spectrum.
That's why the JWT is an infrared telescope, so it can see those far away stars.
@stargazersmith @thomasfuchs @Chrislintott so technically there is light (EM radiation) coming from all points on the sky?
@ProfT @stargazersmith @thomasfuchs Yes - and indeed, we bathe in the cosmic microwave background, the oldest light in the Universe.