70 Sextillion Stars!

JohnT · July 23, 2003, 01:04

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/0...vey/index.html

Quote:

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Ever wanted to wish upon a star? Well, you have 70,000 million million million to choose from.

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.

Astronomers say there are more stars than grains of sand in all of Earth's deserts and beaches.
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."

Luckily for us, the One True God landed on our planet. Even luckier, we killed his Son.

Drake Tungsten · July 23, 2003, 01:06

This would've been more titillating if there were only 69 sextillion stars.

GePap · July 23, 2003, 01:07

Bah, 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is not that impressive. now 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is a real number!

mrmitchell · July 23, 2003, 02:02

We don't know how big the universe is except that it's bigger than that we know of, so any estimate on this is going to come up shorthanded.

~69 sextillion

is enough to make it virtually inevitable for intelligent life to exist, though.

Skanky Burns · July 23, 2003, 03:50

It had to be Australian research. They managed to get the word "sex" into it.

yavoon · July 23, 2003, 04:07

Quote:

Originally posted by mrmitchell
We don't know how big the universe is except that it's bigger than that we know of, so any estimate on this is going to come up shorthanded.

~69 sextillion

is enough to make it virtually inevitable for intelligent life to exist, though.

we may be wrong but we definitely have thoughts on how big the universe is. we have even predicted things like the background radiation that comes from extremely early in the universes life. we also think we know how old it is(15 billion years).

Sikander · July 23, 2003, 04:49

You mean like Farah Fawcett?

aaglo · July 23, 2003, 04:59

If you count from 1 to 70 sextillion aloud, I will work for you for free for the rest of my life...

yavoon · July 23, 2003, 05:04

Quote:

Originally posted by aaglo
If you count from 1 to 70 sextillion aloud, I will work for you for free for the rest of my life...

can I count by sextillions?

and u thot there wasn't a smartass away around it.

Nubclear · July 23, 2003, 05:14

Quote:

Originally posted by aaglo
If you count from 1 to 70 sextillion aloud, I will work for you for free for the rest of my life...

I live in Logan Utah. I'll come meet you at the Salt Lake City airport and I'll even drive you here

st_swithin · July 23, 2003, 05:28

Ok.

VJ · July 23, 2003, 05:32

This is probably some 10 year old prediction, which is now being broadcasted as 'newsflash' because of they don't have enough 'exciting' news to US audience.

st_swithin · July 23, 2003, 07:19

Yeah, probably. And if you stick chicken feathers up your butt you can turn yourself into a chicken, right?

Sikander · July 23, 2003, 07:21

Quote:

Originally posted by st_swithin
Yeah, probably. And if you stick chicken feathers up your butt you can turn yourself into a chicken, right?

I tried that, but I kept causing a commotion whenever I passed wind.

Boris Godunov · July 23, 2003, 08:05

Quote:

Originally posted by yavoon
we may be wrong but we definitely have thoughts on how big the universe is. we have even predicted things like the background radiation that comes from extremely early in the universes life. we also think we know how old it is(15 billion years).

The most accurate dating of the universe has put the age at 13.7 billion years old.

Az · July 23, 2003, 08:46

hhhhh... he said 'sex'... hhhhhhh

[/butthead]

actually, I don't think it's such a difficult calculation. You count up how many galaxies of each kind do you see ( this is the hard part.

) multiply accordingly, and add up.

DAVOUT · July 23, 2003, 08:53

Quote:

Originally posted by GePap
7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is a real number!

Looks more like the number of particles in the universe.

Q Classic · July 23, 2003, 11:51

but it just doesn't sound as cool as "googleplex". marketing, people.

looks like we'll have to edit the old tried and true and quite nice sagan line. "billions and billions of stars" to something more akin to "billions times billions of stars".

Boris Godunov · July 23, 2003, 12:34

Keep in mind that 70 sextillion is something like 10,000 times the number of grains of sand on Earth. That's a lot!

Sava · July 23, 2003, 12:40

And this is only the number of stars visible to us. I suspect there are an infinite number of stars in the Cosmos.

Az · July 23, 2003, 12:42

If there was an infinite number of stars, the universe would've collapsed.

Boris Godunov · July 23, 2003, 12:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Azazel
If there was an infinite number of stars, the universe would've collapsed.

Shhh, let him have his fantasy!

Sava · July 23, 2003, 12:50

Quote:

Shhh, let him have his fantasy!

Sorry, until evidence suggest otherwise...

Sava · July 23, 2003, 12:59

oh, and BTW Boris, my dynamic understanding of the universe is in line with Hawking's writings... which is a combination of Steady-State and Big Bang theories. Frankly, your certainty that I'm wrong represents the same unsubstantiated faith as religion. You need an open mind.

Boris Godunov · July 23, 2003, 13:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Sava
Sorry, until evidence suggest otherwise...

Uh, what evidence support your theory?

Think about it...Infinite stars would mean infinite mass, which would mean everything would collapse on itself.

It would also mean the sky would be so bright from the stars we'd see nothing else, and the universe so irradiated that nothing living would exist.

Boris Godunov · July 23, 2003, 13:02

Which of Hawking's theories suggests there is an infinite number of stars?

Sava · July 23, 2003, 13:06

Quote:

Which of Hawking's theories suggests there is an infinite number of stars?

He doesn't make a conclusion either way... according to "Origin of the Universe" by Stephen W. Hawking
Copyright 1988... it is more likely there is infinite matter, and that we can only detect a limited number of stars.

Sava · July 23, 2003, 13:09

oh and for the whole "sky being bright" thing... stars don't live forever... when they die, they cease to emit light... so we wouldn't see every star in the sky, there is a finite amount of time in which light is emmited. And distance is another factor. I suspect if we traveled to the farthest detectable star, we'd see more stars in that direction that we normally wouldn't see from our current vantage point.

Proteus_MST · July 23, 2003, 13:15

A lot of them could also be so young and they are so far away, that their light hasn´t yet reached Earth

Sava · July 23, 2003, 13:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
A lot of them could also be so young and they are so far away, that their light hasn´t yet reached Earth

And many are long dead and we can't see their light...

Imagine it like this... if you were to put a recording device in space, and record the stars from a single position over billions of years, but play it back in extreme fast forward, it would look like a night sky filled with fireflies.... blinking on and off all over.