So many stars!

On page 6 you learned that there are a hundred billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

On page 8 you learned that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

Now think of this: There are about as many galaxies in the Universe as there are stars in the Milky Way!

Scientists estimate there are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the Universe. That’s a hundred billion galaxies times a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, equals ten sextillion stars in the Universe!

Another way to write this, using a kind of mathematical shorthand is:
10¹¹ x 10¹¹ = 10²². Of course this is approximate, but no matter how you look at it, it is a huge number.

You do not need to understand the math to know that the Universe is full of galaxies, and each galaxy contains many, many stars.

Image credits for this page:
Globular Cluster M15: Hubblesite

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M Y P L A C E I N T H E U N I V E R S E

This is a picture of a cluster (large group) of stars, known as Globular Cluster M15. This cluster is one of many groups of stars within the Milky Way galaxy.