how many galaxies are there in the universe

[himalaya]

by rahul.

 

[SpeedFreek]

When hubble found thousands of galaxies in a tiny area of the sky (if you held 2 pins at arms length and crossed them, the square made where they cross is the size of the piece of sky looked at), we took that figure and extrapolated it across the whole sky and it gave is a figure of...<br /><br />...over 125 billion galaxies in our observable universe, each containing (on average) around 400 billion stars! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000">_______________________________________________<br /></font><font size="2"><em>SpeedFreek</em></font> </p> </div>

 

[nexium]

We know some of the nearby galaxies are small and dim, so likely Hubble did not see some of the most distant galaxies which might be detectable with a super telescope, so a million times a million galaxies may be the future estimate for the visable Universe = 8 times 125 billion. A lower number is more likely. Neil

 

[weeman]

Who really knows for sure. The inhabitants of SDC sure don't <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I've often heard of an estimate of about 200-400 billion galaxies within the known universe. However, when we look into space, we are seeing the past. So, it's possible that new galaxies are forming all over the place that we can't see yet, since their light hasn't reached us. <br /><br />And, just as Speedfreek states, our estimated number of galaxies is based on viewing a tiny portion of space, then extrapolating it over the entire sky. So, although it is a very rough way of trying to count something, it's really the best we have. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>