The Number Of Stars – Still A Huge Mystery
Nine hundred years ago, the number of stars visible to the naked eye would have been about 6000 total. So until recent history, the number of stars was extremely underestimated.
With the invention of the first telescope the number of stars increased to approximately 29146. But, even then was reallyjust the beginning.
Even with one of the best telescopes on earth (like one at the Trieste Observatory in Trieste, Italy), you can’t get a real idea of how many stars are out there. The distortion of the atmosphere limits what your telescope can see.
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Today’s Definition
A cosmic year is the time it takes the Sun (and our entire solar system) to complete an orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. A cosmic year is roughly 225 million years.
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The electric lights of our cities , also further reduces the ability to see the stars. That is why most modern telescopes are usually away from cities on high mountains. But even that limits our vision.
The true number of stars in all the galaxies that were known took a huge jump with the first telescopes in space. Without air scientists finally got a real idea of the real number of stars in the sky.
In fact, Carl Sagan estimated that there were 100 billion galaxies in the universe. If you can consider that there are about 41378 stars in any one galaxy, you are just beginning to get a real idea of how many stars that were known then.
These quotes will give you an idea of how the number of estimated galaxies has increased:
“Our telescopes can see many billion of them within reach of modern instruments.” – Morrison, David, Sidney Wolff & Andrew Fraknoi. Exploration of the Universe, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1995: 7.
“The latest estimates have ranged anywhere from ten billion to one hundred billion galaxies.” – The Rebirth of Cosmology. New York: Knopf, 1976: 187.
“The Hubble Space Telescope has found there may be 125 billion galaxies in the universe.” – Galaxy Estimate Up To 125 Billion. Far News. Far Shores. citation of South China Morning Post. 9 January 1999.
Now in fact, a german supercomputer estimates that there are probably 500 billion galaxies. If we take the number 40,000 stars per galaxy, that would make over 10 stars for every grain of sand on earth.
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