New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Thought

[We Never Know]

Mistakes will be made along the way but its all about the learning.

New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. Not 2 trillion as previously thought

New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought

 

[Regiomontanus]

Mistakes will be made along the way but its all about the learning.

New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. Not 2 trillion as previously thought

New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought

"The earlier estimate was extrapolated from very deep sky observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. It relied on mathematical models to estimate how many galaxies were too small and faint for Hubble to see. That team concluded that 90% of the galaxies in the universe were beyond Hubble’s ability to detect in visible light. The new findings, which relied on measurements from NASA’s distant New Horizons mission, suggest a much more modest number."

Astronomy advances.

 

[Revoltingest]

Does this mean there's a shortage?

 

[ChristineM]

I like the idea of "rogue, intergalactic stars"

 

[Twilight Hue]

Does this mean there's a shortage?

They merged into conglomerates. Mom and pop galaxies are a thing of the past.

Marvin is depressed again.

 

[Stevicus]

Mistakes will be made along the way but its all about the learning.

New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. Not 2 trillion as previously thought

New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought

So, it's only hundreds of billions of galaxies instead of 2 trillion as previously thought? Oh well, I guess we should be able to get by. Even if humans completely colonize and overpopulate this galaxy, we'll still have some more galaxies to colonize. We'll still have plenty of space left.

 

[Heyo]

I like the idea of "rogue, intergalactic stars"

We know that they are out there. Stars and other stellar objects frequently get catapulted out of unstable orbits and reach escape velocity. We just don't know how many there are.

 

[Heyo]

Mistakes will be made along the way but its all about the learning.

New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. Not 2 trillion as previously thought

New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought

I hadn't even become used to the idea of 2 trillion. I still have the older estimate of 300 billion in mind (which incidentally is also the new estimate). And it's also the (older?) estimate for suns in the Milky Way galaxy and for cells in the human brain.

 

[ChristineM]

We know that they are out there. Stars and other stellar objects frequently get catapulted out of unstable orbits and reach escape velocity. We just don't know how many there are.

Yes, i know, from rogue bits of dust right up to whole swathes of rogue galaxies.

Andromeda is bucking the general trend of everything moving apart and heading our way...

And who said space is empty???

 

[Heyo]

And who said space is empty???

Nobody, and it's a nice thing also. There's about 1 atom of hydrogen in a m³ of extragalactic space, 10 in intergalactic. That makes it possible with known physics (and, hopefully, soon known technology) to travel to other star systems at about 20% c, taking up fuel on the way.

 

[alsome]

There's gotta to be a way to find that needle in all this hay. Isn't there?