2007-02-19 22:29:06 · 24 answers · asked by BRIJESH K 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
too many to count
2007-02-19 22:31:45 · answer #1 · answered by ♥~shona~♥ 5 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Like the number of grains of sand on the beach or angels that can dance on the head of a pin, the number of stars in the sky remains a great unknown.
The usual way to determine the number of stars in the universe is to consider how many stars there are in the Milky Way, and then to multiply that number by our best guesstimate at the number of galaxies in the universe. This FAQ suggests there are probably about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, although "a 50% error either way is quite plausible." As for the number of galaxies in the universe, well that's a whole separate mathematical puzzle.
2007-02-19 22:35:51 · answer #2 · answered by Freak 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The number of stars are not countless but actually a finite and estimable quantity.
There are estimated to be 10^24 stars in the Universe. It is also estimated that there are 10^22 grains of sand on Earth. So there are 100 times more stars than grains of sand on Earth.
Quite a few, eh?
I want to thank karthik for that complete and utter waste of bandwidth and webspace. Idiot.
2007-02-20 00:02:35 · answer #3 · answered by gebobs 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Astronomers estimate that there are at least 70 sextillion (7×1022) stars in the known universe.[40] That is 230 billion times as many as the 300 billion in our own Milky Way.
2007-02-19 22:35:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
maybe you mean,how many stars can you see from earth in the night sky?that would depend on your geographical location,altitude,weather,and season.the only reason you can see any at all is the atmosphere magnifies light.like,from the moon,you cant see any stars,cept the sun.why dont you just count a section and then employ some brilliant mathematical equation to get a rough idea.
2007-02-19 22:42:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Like the number of grains of sand on the beach or angels that can dance on the head of a pin, the number of stars in the sky remains a great unknown. Discussing the number of stars in the Milky Way alone, astronomer William Keel, writing for the sci.astro Galaxies FAQ, claims that there are "about as many as the number of hamburgers sold by McDonald's."
Then he elaborates. The usual way to determine the number of stars in the universe is to consider how many stars there are in the Milky Way, and then to multiply that number by our best guesstimate at the number of galaxies in the universe. This FAQ suggests there are probably about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, although "a 50% error either way is quite plausible." As for the number of galaxies in the universe, well that's a whole separate mathematical puzzle.
Other star enumerators we located on the Web offer numbers ranging from more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy to 3 thousand million billion stars (3 followed by 16 zeroes), in the universe. NASA alleges there are zillions of uncountable stars.
From a recent astronomy news article on CNN.com, we learned about the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an ambitious astronomy project currently mapping the night sky, to determine the "positions and absolute brightnesses of more than 100 million celestial objects."
That's the total number of stars in the known universe, according to a study by Australian astronomers.
It's also about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts.
The figure -- 7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately, 70 sextillion -- was calculated by a team of stargazers based at the Australian National University.
Speaking at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union meeting in Sydney, Dr Simon Driver said the number was drawn up based on a survey of one strip of sky, rather than trying to count every individual star.
The team used two of the world's most powerful telescopes, one at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in northern New South Wales state and one in the Canary Islands, to carry out their survey.
Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness taken to calculate how many stars they contained.
That number was then multiplied by the number of similar sized strips needed to cover the entire sky, Driver said, and then multiplied again out to the edge of the visible universe.
He said there were likely many million more stars in the universe but the 70 sextillion figure was the number visible within range of modern telescopes.
The actual number of stars could be infinite he said.
The universe is so big light from the other side of the universe "hasn't reached us yet," The Age newspaper quoted him as saying.
Asked if he believed the huge scale of the universe meant there was intelligent life out there somewhere, he told the paper: "Seventy thousand million million million is a big number ... it's inevitable."
2007-02-20 03:04:38 · answer #6 · answered by srinu710 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Milky Way Galaxy has over 400 billion stars in it. 3,000 of these you can see without a telescope or binoculars on a clear night. There are too many to count in the Universe.
2007-02-20 00:05:15 · answer #7 · answered by bldudas 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
none, actually...the sky is part of the earth and the stars are way farther than that. In any case, the number of stars is way too many, and a number of them die every day...so an actual count I really don't know...
2007-02-19 22:33:59 · answer #8 · answered by gnomus12 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Uncountable as there are many galxies & we do not know how much is spce so there r uncountable stars some are so far that we can not even see it
2007-02-20 03:00:08 · answer #9 · answered by poojan jhaveri 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It has not been counted and it is not possible to count.Stars die and get born.What we see in the sky is part of the universe.Why they are in the universe?No body has the answer.That is why we start believing in God.
2007-02-19 22:45:09 · answer #10 · answered by gaurav r 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
hi
its really an interesting question , the stars are countless
did u know how many hairs are there on ur head
such as hairs stars are also countless
2007-02-19 23:28:37 · answer #11 · answered by pinkylittledute 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋