How many solar systems are there in the Universe?
There are on the order of 100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion) galaxies in the universe, as far as current telescopes can detect. Some of these galaxies may hold up to 100,000,000,000 stars, but most galaxies probably contain at least 10,000,000,000 stars. Young galaxies under 2,000,000,000 years old may not have formed many solar systems yet, while very old galaxies more than 10,000,000,000 years old may have very few galaxies left. For the galaxies of middle age, as many as 1/4 of the stars may possess solar systems.
Astronomers say that our sun and its planets formed ages ago from a hazy cloud of cosmic gases. They now have some new evidence on this subject. It suggests that all of the starry suns in the universe may have formed in the very same way. If so, we can expect many of them to be solar systems, somewhat like our own sun with its family of orbiting planets. There are about 100 billion stars in our Galaxy and perhaps 100 billion other galaxies in the universe. Most of these starry suns may be orbited by planets. We cannot, of course, prove this theory. But astronomers have a lot of indirect evidence to suggest that it is true. What’s more, they have some direct evidence to prove that ours is not the only solar system in the universe. A big planet has been found orbiting around another star and several others seem to have planets. With more work and better instruments, no doubt we shall find them. Meantime, there seems to be no shortage of solar systems in the universe.
• by Rami Member since: May 26, 2008 Total points: 273 (Level 2) • Add to My Contacts • Block User 1 • 1 year ago 0 Rating: Good Answer 4 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse • by Sam D Member since: July 11, 2008 Total points: 222 (Level 1) • Add to My Contacts • Block User idk • 1 year ago 0 Rating: Good Answer 4 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse • by Zam Almighty Member since: December 13, 2007 Total points: 609 (Level 2) • Add to My Contacts • Block User I have a question from our young friends at the Mountain Home Air Force Base Youth Activities Center in Mountain Home, Idaho. They wonder how many solar systems are in our galaxy. Well, I wonder the same thing! I wish I knew the answer to this thought-provoking question, but not only do I not know, no one does. So I guess you could hang up right now, or you might want to keep listening, because even though I don’t know the answer, this question brings up some thrilling ideas. For many years scientists have studied our solar system, consis
