70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe

tool · 24th Jul 2003, 10:39 PM

Source: 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.

A whole lot of zeros

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."

The Dopefish · 24th Jul 2003, 10:43 PM

Like I said in IRC, that's 70 sextillion VISIBLE stars.

Not including, as the article says, the stars the light of which hasn't reached Earth yet.

Nor does that include stars which do not give off visible light.

El Diablo · 24th Jul 2003, 10:45 PM

70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe

...

that's a lot of stars

ilkman · 24th Jul 2003, 10:50 PM

Jeeze thats a lot of movies.

El Diablo · 24th Jul 2003, 10:51 PM

OHHhhh, wow ilkman, I get it!

The Dopefish · 24th Jul 2003, 10:53 PM

In my younger and more nerdy years I'd spend (too much) time deriving huge numbers from the concepts of prefixes and how they were used in numerology. I could go over for you in detail but thankfully there are some websites which have beaten me to the punch:

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/math/largenum.html
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/59154.html

tool · 24th Jul 2003, 10:54 PM

no need to educate me on numbers, I took calculus in Highschool, I seen enough numbers to last a life time.

Twisted Metal · 24th Jul 2003, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Diablo

70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe

...

that's a lot of stars

I bet it's also the length of your dick in inches, right?
Or maybe even the amount of money in your pocket right now!

El Diablo · 24th Jul 2003, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twisted Metal

I bet it's also the length of your dick in inches, right?
Or maybe even the amount of money in your pocket right now!

I WISH

bobtheking · 24th Jul 2003, 11:55 PM

if light from the other side hasn't reached us yet, doesn't that disprove the big bang theory? mass can only go as fast as light, but if the big bang happened, light from one side would have to be on the other side, or it would have moved faster than light?

ilkman · 25th Jul 2003, 12:09 AM

Stars are being "born and snuffed out all the time. Maybe those stars whose light hasnt yet reached us have just been "born", in the last few hundred, or maybe thousand years or so.
Also light dissipates over distance too.

bobtheking · 25th Jul 2003, 12:20 AM

oh yeah

Zarkazm · 25th Jul 2003, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobtheking

if light from the other side hasn't reached us yet, doesn't that disprove the big bang theory? mass can only go as fast as light, but if the big bang happened, light from one side would have to be on the other side, or it would have moved faster than light?

It may be because space itself expands. I also read the theory that if the universe is infinite, it was already born infinite.

DiZASTiX · 25th Jul 2003, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Diablo

I WISH

Maybe the money part but the wang...just think...auuuuuuuugh! Thats not right!

das_ben · 25th Jul 2003, 05:55 AM

Impressive. It's kind of a shame that we probably never will be able to leave the sol system.

IntRed · 25th Jul 2003, 06:34 AM

you could actually, there's this company that freezes you in

So you could be defrosted by the time we have the ability to leave the system

das_ben · 25th Jul 2003, 06:43 AM

Of course it's possible that technologies that no man even dreams about now will pop up in the future but unless that happens, it's pretty much impossible to leave our system, let alone reach another one.

Myrmidion · 25th Jul 2003, 07:23 AM

Hey, in the Dark Ages I bet no-one ever dreamed of the possibility of powered flight, but now (or at least until Concorde went under) we can cross the Atlantic in under 3 hours - a journey that used to take six weeks

.

das_ben · 25th Jul 2003, 07:31 AM

Yeah, but now we know physics, and it's impossible to reach acceptable speeds.

W0RF · 25th Jul 2003, 08:43 AM

"billions and billions.... "

CURSE YOU CARL SAGAN! YOU LIED!!! YOU LIED TO ME!!!!!

24th Jul 2003, 10:43 PM	#2
The Dopefish 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champions. Join Date: Apr. 17th, 2000 Location: Springfield, MA, USA Posts: 8,228	Like I said in IRC, that's 70 sextillion VISIBLE stars. Not including, as the article says, the stars the light of which hasn't reached Earth yet. Nor does that include stars which do not give off visible light. __________________

24th Jul 2003, 10:45 PM	#3
El Diablo German Engineered, Autobahn Approved Join Date: Oct. 19th, 2001 Location: In my own personal Hell. Posts: 2,256	70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe ... that's a lot of stars __________________ GameHelper Writer \| Ferrari Fanatic \| My Game Collection "Look, it's the two symbols of the Republican party: an Elephant and a fat, old white guy who's afraid of change!" -Peter Griffin

24th Jul 2003, 10:50 PM	#4
ilkman The Outcast God Join Date: Mar. 1st, 2001 Location: Pacific Ocean somewhere Posts: 3,560	Jeeze thats a lot of movies. __________________ Never trust small children who say "trust me".

24th Jul 2003, 10:51 PM	#5
El Diablo German Engineered, Autobahn Approved Join Date: Oct. 19th, 2001 Location: In my own personal Hell. Posts: 2,256	OHHhhh, wow ilkman, I get it! __________________ GameHelper Writer \| Ferrari Fanatic \| My Game Collection "Look, it's the two symbols of the Republican party: an Elephant and a fat, old white guy who's afraid of change!" -Peter Griffin

24th Jul 2003, 10:53 PM	#6
The Dopefish 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champions. Join Date: Apr. 17th, 2000 Location: Springfield, MA, USA Posts: 8,228	In my younger and more nerdy years I'd spend (too much) time deriving huge numbers from the concepts of prefixes and how they were used in numerology. I could go over for you in detail but thankfully there are some websites which have beaten me to the punch: http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/math/largenum.html http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/59154.html __________________

24th Jul 2003, 10:54 PM	#7
tool BuFs #1 mom Join Date: Oct. 31st, 2001 Location: Up my ass Posts: 13,367	no need to educate me on numbers, I took calculus in Highschool, I seen enough numbers to last a life time.

24th Jul 2003, 11:55 PM	#10
bobtheking Monkey in a bucket Join Date: Dec. 1st, 2001 Location: dx*dp >= h/4pi Posts: 1,237	if light from the other side hasn't reached us yet, doesn't that disprove the big bang theory? mass can only go as fast as light, but if the big bang happened, light from one side would have to be on the other side, or it would have moved faster than light?

25th Jul 2003, 12:09 AM	#11
ilkman The Outcast God Join Date: Mar. 1st, 2001 Location: Pacific Ocean somewhere Posts: 3,560	Stars are being "born and snuffed out all the time. Maybe those stars whose light hasnt yet reached us have just been "born", in the last few hundred, or maybe thousand years or so. Also light dissipates over distance too. __________________ Never trust small children who say "trust me". Last edited by ilkman; 25th Jul 2003 at 12:23 AM.

25th Jul 2003, 12:20 AM	#12
bobtheking Monkey in a bucket Join Date: Dec. 1st, 2001 Location: dx*dp >= h/4pi Posts: 1,237	oh yeah

25th Jul 2003, 05:55 AM	#15
das_ben Concerned. Join Date: Feb. 11th, 2000 Location: Teutonia Posts: 5,873	Impressive. It's kind of a shame that we probably never will be able to leave the sol system. __________________ - Ben. [Flickr] \| [Blog] \| [Tumblr]

25th Jul 2003, 06:34 AM	#16
IntRed Registered User Join Date: Jun. 17th, 2001 Location: The small yet so large country Belgium Posts: 4,560	you could actually, there's this company that freezes you in So you could be defrosted by the time we have the ability to leave the system __________________

25th Jul 2003, 06:43 AM	#17
das_ben Concerned. Join Date: Feb. 11th, 2000 Location: Teutonia Posts: 5,873	Of course it's possible that technologies that no man even dreams about now will pop up in the future but unless that happens, it's pretty much impossible to leave our system, let alone reach another one. __________________ - Ben. [Flickr] \| [Blog] \| [Tumblr]

25th Jul 2003, 07:23 AM	#18
Myrmidion Re-edifying the post-panarchic duodonemy Join Date: Jan. 28th, 2001 Location: Location: Location: Posts: 798	Hey, in the Dark Ages I bet no-one ever dreamed of the possibility of powered flight, but now (or at least until Concorde went under) we can cross the Atlantic in under 3 hours - a journey that used to take six weeks . __________________ Dangerously tasty.

25th Jul 2003, 07:31 AM	#19
das_ben Concerned. Join Date: Feb. 11th, 2000 Location: Teutonia Posts: 5,873	Yeah, but now we know physics, and it's impossible to reach acceptable speeds. __________________ - Ben. [Flickr] \| [Blog] \| [Tumblr]

25th Jul 2003, 08:43 AM	#20
W0RF BuF Greeter, News Bagger Join Date: Apr. 19th, 2002 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 8,731	"billions and billions.... " CURSE YOU CARL SAGAN! YOU LIED!!! YOU LIED TO ME!!!!! __________________ Maps: CTF-ColaWars-FragBU - current version = 2 \| CTF/BR/JB/TDM-BuFferZone - In Progress Last edited by W0RF; 26th May 2005 at 10:15 AM.

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