2007-04-21 16:19:06 · 21 answers · asked by ? 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
So far there are almost 220 known extrasolar planets in our galaxy, and there are about one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe. Hence one can estimate that there are at least 22 trillion planets in the known universe.
The actual number, of course, is probably much higher.
2007-04-21 16:30:57 · answer #1 · answered by Ben 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Considering that new planets are condensing out of interstellar dust clouds all the time... the number of planets is increasing.
How many there will be by the time the universe finishes building new planets is a question for philosophers, not scientists... because, by that time, Humanity will have long since either disappeared or evolved into something completely beyond our ken.
To respond to another person's response: Hey Dusty... ever hear of a number called GoogolPlex ? That's a mighty big number... guaranteed to be larger than the number of Planets in the Universe (because if you packed the universe full of electrons it would still be a smaller number than a GoogolPlex :))
2007-04-21 23:59:51 · answer #2 · answered by John T 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
2
2007-04-21 23:26:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
There are no way to tell exactly how many planets are in the universe, it depends on the definition of a planet. We won't know how many planet are there because we only know as much as 5% of the universe (NASA report)
2007-04-21 23:25:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are as many planets in the universe as there are decimal points to the numeric value of Pi.
Or probably twice that number.
Or not, as the case may be.
2007-04-21 23:25:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is impossible to tell. Nobody knows how many planets there are in the universe., especially since we have never sent anything out of this solar system...
2007-04-21 23:28:37 · answer #6 · answered by idrunner11 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the universe is expanding and planets are created and destroyed every single day so there is possibly no way to know exactly how many there are. even an estimate is impossible. just know that the univers is incredibly huge and there are kajillions of planets in there. go on wikipedia and look up the universe. those 4 links are pretty educational (the intros are anyways since i barely understand the rest).
peace
2007-04-21 23:41:52 · answer #7 · answered by frenchmanonthesilvermountain 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
3
2007-04-21 23:21:28 · answer #8 · answered by Cameron H 1 · 0⤊ 5⤋
There are an infinite amount of stars out there. and if only 1 in 1billion stars has a planet there is still an infinite of planets.
2007-04-22 00:24:14 · answer #9 · answered by lagb1210 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There's no way of knowing an exact number, of course. But you might want to read about the work of Frank Drake and SETI - they developed a formula which makes a lot of estimates and it only applies to our own Galaxy. The factors in that formula change every time we find out something new about other stars.
2007-04-21 23:25:23 · answer #10 · answered by gandolphus 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋