Two trillion galaxies in 'observable' Universe: NASA

October 14, 2016 01:24

There are a dizzying two trillion galaxies in the Universe, up to twenty times more than previously thought, astronomers reported on Thursday.

The surprising find, based on 3D modelling of images collected over 20 years by the Hubble Space Telescope, was published in the Astronomical Journal.

Scientists have puzzled over how many galaxies the cosmos harbours at least since US astronomer Edwin Hubble showed in 1924 that Andromeda, a neighbouring galaxy, was not part of our own Milky Way. But even in the era of modern astronomy, getting an accurate tally has proven difficult.

To begin with, there is only part of the cosmos where light given off by distant objects has had time to reach Earth. The rest is effectively beyond our reach. And even within this "observable Universe," current technology only allows us to glimpse ten percent of what is out there, according to the new findings.

"It boggles the mind that over 90 per cent of the galaxies in the Universe have yet to be studied," commented Christopher Conselice of the University of Nottingham, who led the study.

"Who knows what interesting properties we will find when we observe these galaxies with the next generation of telescopes," he said in a statement.

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