100 Billion and counting...? :) Ask Hubble....and they still can't find the 12th member of our solar system...(the tenth actual planet)....est. is 30 some degrees below the plane of the eliptical.....oh well....
Adj wrote: "would it not depend on how strong your telescope is"
Yes and no. :o)
It is believed that the universe is only about 14 billion years old. So no matter how strong a telescope we build we wouldn't be able to see any galaxies any further away than about 14 billion light years. The light from any galaxies further away simply wouldn't have had enough time to get to us yet. Using the Hubble space telescope astronomers have been able to see galaxies just over 13 billion light years away. So it is believed that we are already seeing at pretty close to our observable limit. However, it is believed that the universe is much larger than what we can observe. Whether it's actually infinite or not is a huge question especially when taking into account the various types of mathematical infinities that exist. That topic in and of itself is mind-boggling. :o)
Arabella and Solitaire,
Both 80 billion and 100 billion are fairly good numbers. It's all done by taking a very small count of galaxies in the sky (about the size of sky that would be covered by the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length) and then extrapolating from that.
I just took at astronomy course taught by Alex Filippenko, one of the leading astronomers currently working in this field. According to him the latest count is 500 billion and counting. But what's a few hundred billion among friends right?
It just boggles the mind when you stop to think about it. There are only about 6 billion people on earth. There are far more galaxies in the observable universe than there are people on Earth. And this is true even if we take the smaller numbers as the galaxy count.
With that many galaxies out there, each one containing hundreds of billions of stars, the idea that the Earth is the only planet where life has arisen seems pretty darn silly doncha think? :o)
I actually posted this question because, for me, a potential partner would need to at least be interesting in knowing about the true nature of the universe she lives in, and would hopefully have some grasp of it. I don't think I could stand to have a partner who can't handle thinking about such things. We simply wouldn't be able to share things on the deepest philosophical and spiritual level. Got to have a woman with a MIND.
and apparently the big apocalypse due in 2012 foretold by the Mayans. is the revealing of this planet but it only happens every so many thousand years.... hey i just woke up guys no coffee yet 7:30 am gimmee a break
........LUMA!!!!!!!!! i am so happy to see you back....
since the new Hubble Telescope 3000 visible galaxies can be found in our universe. but the average in 1999 was into 125 billion!!!!!!!!! that are most likely out there!!!
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that we have "evidence" for other universes.
Some theories predict multiple universes as a mathematical consequence of the theory, but those theories are hardly supported by "evidence". Those theories are extremely speculative at this time. They may or may not be true.
I do agree though that just within the context of this one universe I it's pretty obviously that we are most likely not alone.
The exact date of the end of this "Sun: aka "apocalypse" predicted by the Mayan Calender in Dec. 23, 2012; the Inca calender is as yet still undecypherable but both calenders are almost copies of each other; minus all the "frilly artwork, they both also resemble the most ancient calender of Nippur, (ancient Sumaria,c. 3700bc)
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How many people care?