Ever look up into the sky and wonder how many stars there are?
For some, "a lot" is not a very satisfying answer.
Although, we will never really know how many stars there are in the universe, here is a simple calculation that will give us a "rough estimate":
A little background info first...
Galaxies range from Dwarf to Giant. Dwarf galaxies have between ten million (10^7) stars to several billion. While Giant galaxies have a hundred trillion (10^14) stars. It is also said, that "there are probably more than 170 billion (1.7 x10^11) galaxies in the observable universe".
So taking the average of (10^7) and (10^14) we get (5 x10^13)
Then if we take the average of (5 x10^13) and multiply by (1.7 x10^11)
we get approximately (8.5 x10^24) stars in the universe.
That's 8.5 yottas! Or a Septillion (If you're American or French) Or a Quadrillion (If you're English or British).
Any which way, that's a "yotta" stars.
(This of course is just a rough approximation.)
- "Unveiling the Secret of a Virgo Dwarf Galaxy". ESO. 2000-05-03. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
- Uson, J. M.; Boughn, S. P.; Kuhn, J. R. (1990). "The central galaxy in Abell 2029 – An old supergiant". Science 250 (4980): 539–540. Bibcode1990Sci...250..539U. doi:10.1126/science.250.4980.539
- Gott III, J. R.; et al. (2005). "A Map of the Universe". Astrophysical Journal 624(2): 463–484. arXiv:astro-ph/0310571. Bibcode 2005ApJ...624..463G.doi:10.1086/428890
