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.
Our local group is part of the Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies which is a part of Laniakea Super Cluster headed towards a larger group of superclusters over a million miles an hour.
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