Five hundred years ago, the number of visible stars would have been about 2500 at any one time. So until recent history, the total number of stars was extremely underestimated. With the optics of Galileo’s telescope the number of stars increased to about 28149. But, even then was really just a start. Even with a big telescope telescopes on earth (like one at the Gifford Observatory made in 1912 in Wellington, New Zealand), you don’t really get a real picture of the true number of stars in the universe. The distortion of the air limits what you can make out.
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Today’s Infonugget
Alnitak (Zeta Orionis) is a star at the eastern end of the Orion’s belt (in the constellation Orion). Alnitak means belt. Alnitak is spectral Type O9.7Ib. It is also known as Alnitah. The other two stars in Orion’s belt are Alnilam and Mintaka.
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The light from cities called light pollution, also further reduces the ability to see the stars. That is why most modern telescopes are usually away from cities. But even that limits our vision. The true number of galaxies that were known greatly increased with the first telescopes in space. Without the atmosphere students of astronomy finally got a real idea of the real number of stars in the sky. In fact, Carl Sagan estimated that there were 100 billion galaxies in the universe. If you understand that there are about 41385 stars in the average galaxy, you start to get a real understanding of how many stars that were known then.
These quotes will give you an idea of how the number of estimated galaxies has increased:
“Studies of distant space with optical and radio telescopes indicate that there may be about 100 billion galaxies in the universe.” – World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, 1997: 205.
“It is composed of stars grouped into galaxies about a hundred billion galaxies in the universe.” – Fisher, David. The Origin and Evolution of Our Own Particular Universe. New York: Macmillan, 1988: 60.
“The Hubble Space Telescope has found there may be 125 billion galaxies in the universe.” – Galaxy Estimate Up To 125 Billion. Far News. Far Shores. citation of South China Morning Post. 9 January 1999.
Now in fact, a german supercomputer estimates that there are probably 500 billion galaxies. If we take the number 40,000 stars per galaxy, that would make over 10 stars for every grain of sand on earth.
