• Question: How many stars are there in the universe and how many planets are there in the universe?

    Asked by Kizzy to Chloe, Irene, Pierre, NULL, Uday on 15 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Irene Regan

      Irene Regan answered on 15 Nov 2015:


      Hi You’re like me, you’ve looked up into the night sky and wondered just how many stars there are in space?

      This great question has fascinated scientists as well as philosophers, musicians and dreamers throughout the ages.
      It is easy to ask this question, but difficult for scientists to give a fair answer!

      Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also!

      8 planets in the solar system but millions in the universe (about 10 to the power of 24) !!!

    • Photo: Uday Bangavadi

      Uday Bangavadi answered on 16 Nov 2015:


      I think the best answer would be Infinite or Unknown…. There are number to answer but I feel its really huge. And coming to planets.. Once again Its uncertain. We think there must be life except earth but never heard or seen anything. Yet research is still going on.

    • Photo: Pierre Casaubielh

      Pierre Casaubielh answered on 17 Nov 2015:


      There are far too many.

      However we do not have any idea of real numbers…. so I will not give you big numbers.

      The sky, at night, is full of stars; I hope you can enjoy, when it is not cloudy…. unfortunately, using your eyes, you do not see all of them.

    • Photo: Pierre Casaubielh

      Pierre Casaubielh answered on 17 Nov 2015:


      There are far too many.

      However we do not have any idea of real numbers…. so I will not give you big numbers.

      The sky, at night, is full of stars; I hope you can enjoy, when it is not cloudy…. unfortunately, using your eyes, you do not see all of them.
      Some equipment, satellites, antennas and telescopes, can help seeing even stars and planet being far away.

      There is of course a limit what telescope can help visualise; that’s another reason why telescopes get bigger and bigger with more innovative technologies to try and understand stars and planets. ….
      Big questions, which are still unsolved, where do we come from? can we really be the only planet with a source life?

    • Photo: Chloe Huseyin

      Chloe Huseyin answered on 17 Nov 2015:


      Nobody knows yet, this is why we will always need more scientists to research big questions like this. So that someday when a scientist like me gets asked by a student like you I’ll be able to tell you the exact number 🙂

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