The night sky ... Stars ... The sight is bewitching! Bright constellations ... Alluring look of the Milky Way ... How many stars in the sky? I wonder if there is at least one person who, with delight and inexplicable reverence looking at the night luminaries, would not ask himself this question? And, probably, many even tried to count them ...
A bit of history
Do you know who first told the world how many stars in the sky? How long has it been?
About two and a half thousand years ago, the first stellar catalog was compiled by the ancient astronomer Hipparchus. What prompted the scientist to mark stars? He was probably impressed by witnessing the emergence of a new, very bright star. An event so significant for the astronomer could not but leave a mark. Hipparchus decided to fix all visible stars in order not to miss the appearance of new bodies, if this happens. As a result, the astronomer rewrote 1,025 stars. For each, coordinates and magnitude were determined.
Of course, observations started much earlier. Ancient astronomers also had their own works, however, unfortunately, only a small fraction of them reached us. Therefore, the first catalog of stars is considered to be the result of the work of Hipparchus. All of them were divided into six categories. The main selection criterion was brightness. Then the concept of "magnitude" appeared. Of course, the Hipparchian size has undergone changes and has become improved.
About magnitude
In antiquity, it was believed that since the celestial bodies are located in the same sphere, they are also removed from the Earth by one (same) distance. The stars, which seemed the faintest and barely noticeable, were assigned the sixth magnitude, and the brightest the first. In the catalog compiled by Hipparchus, 15 stars were on the first place in importance, 45 on the second, 208 on the third, 474 on the fourth, 217 on the fifth, 49 on the sixth (and several nebulae).
As time went. New stars were celebrated, experience appeared, knowledge accumulated. Soon, astronomers found that the radiations of stars are uneven, and they themselves are at different distances. New definitions of their magnitude have appeared: visual, photovisual, photographic, bolometric.
Counting together
Probably, even the most authoritative modern astrologer will not answer the question of how many stars in the sky. And that is understandable. How to disagree with the ancient sages who claim that counting the stars is as difficult as calling the number of grains of sand on Earth! But here we can give a rough estimate.
What do we need to count the number of grains of sand? Data on the area of the coastline (can be obtained from the satellite) and the average thickness of the sand layer. This will help determine the amount of all sand on the planet (Vz). Now it remains to measure one grain of sand (Vp). Catch it? To get an approximate number of grains of sand, it remains to perform only one action - divide Vz by Vp. Of course, the figure will be "rough", but still ...
Using the same scheme, we can roughly determine how many stars are in the sky. The principle is the same, only instead of beaches - galaxies. We count. There are approximately 10 12 stars in our galaxy. And how many then are there in the universe? Let us give you the pleasure of answering the question yourself, giving only a small hint: there are about the same number of galaxies - 10 12 .
You just have to multiply.
The name of the stars in the sky
Mankind began to give names to the brightest luminaries thousands of years ago. This is Sirius, and Vega, and Aldebaran, and Antares, and many others. Those stars, whose brightness is slightly weaker, were indicated by letters from the Greek alphabet and numbers. Some of them did not even get a room. They were simply fixed on the maps, indicating the coordinates and indicating the strength of the brightness (brightness).
The brightest star in the universe is considered the blue UW Sma. In the visible horizon, Deneb leads, of the nearest to us - Sirius, in the solar system - Venus.