HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN THE UNIVERSE

Question: HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN THE UNIVERSE

Asked by 1philip1 to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 24 Mar 2010 in Categories: General.
- Martin Coath answered on 24 Mar 2010:
  
  I am not sure anyone knows. Somebody will have estimated it based on some assumptions but the estimate could be WAY out if these assumptions are wrong!
  
  I will see if I can find an estimate and get back to you.
- Chris Cooper answered on 24 Mar 2010:
  
  Good question. No one really knows. Of course they are not counted individually. It is a bit like counting grains of sand on one small part of a beach and then making an extrapolation.
  
  For a galaxy (like our own the Milky Way) there are 10^12 stars (1 with 12 zeros after it). There are 10^12 galaxies. If we multiply these numbers together we get an estimation of the number of stars in the universe. Multiplying powers of 10 is the same as adding the exponents (ask your maths teacher). So the number of stars in the universe is close to 10^24.
  
  or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
  
  This is big, but nowhere near as big as a google (Iook it up!)

Martin commented on 25 Mar 2010:

I think Chris’s figures are as good as any I found elsewhere so I won’t add anythinh here!
Chris commented on 25 Mar 2010:

Well done NASA (I guess I should have named my source!)

Question: HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE IN THE UNIVERSE