Posted: 24 Sep 2014 05:00 AM PDT
Billion and billion of stars, photo taken into black
space by Hubble Telescope
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Counting the stars in the
universe is like trying to count the number of sand grains on a beach,
its not possible. Although estimates vary among different experts, the general
consensus is that there are at least between 100 billion and 200 billion
galaxies in our universe. Think about that for a moment, and now throw in
billions of stars in each galaxy! (source)
This number could very easily be in the trillions for all we know.
Take the Milky Way Galaxy for
example, which measures to about 120,000 light years across (it would take
light that many years to travel across the galaxy), and contains up to 400
billion stars. Again, that’s billions of galaxies that contain billions of
stars. (source)
In the video below, a team of
scientists gathered data on more than 8000 galaxies that surround the one we
live in, also mentioned above, the Milky Way galaxy. They mapped each galaxies
movement and position in space, and discovered that the Milky Way galaxy is
part of one giant system that contains a number of other galaxies, referred to
as a super cluster.
Anything to do with space is mind
altering to me, so for those of you who are wondering, that’s why I put it in
the title.
Superclusters – regions of space that are densely packed with galaxies – are the biggest structures in the Universe. But scientists have struggled to define exactly where one supercluster ends and another begins. Now, a team based in Hawaii has come up with a new technique that maps the Universe according to the flow of galaxies across space. Redrawing the boundaries of the cosmic map, they redefine our home supercluster and name it Laniakea, which means ‘immeasurable heaven’ in Hawaiian.
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