March 29, 2024

The Universe of Freistetter’s Equations: How Many Stars Are There?

The most legendary mathematical tricks, the worst obstacles in the history of physics and all kinds of formulas in which it is difficult for anyone to see the sleeping meaning: these are the inhabitants of Freistetter’s world of formulas.
All episodes of his weekly column, which appears every Sunday, can be viewed here.

The formula now known as the Schmidt-Kennicott law applies to galaxies no more than five billion years old and is an empirical relationship derived from observational data. But it is intuitively understood that the greater the density of interstellar gas, the more stars are formed.

As follows from a study published in January 2023Between 10 and 20 new stars are formed in our Milky Way every year. Previously, only one or two stars were supposed to be added. In spite of everything, the total number of stars in the Milky Way can only be estimated: it ranges from 100 to 400 billion. Galaxies in the entire observable universe can also only be roughly identified, but it is assumed that there could be a few trillion. Anyway, one thing is clear: there are too many stars and it would be an illusion to try to count them all.

9095 stars shine in us

And, of course, Reverend Hay’s folk song does not give an answer to the question of the same name and limits itself to the phrase “The Lord suffices them.” Unfortunately, this does not help the search for an answer – the work of American astronomer Dorit Hofflett does. In 1956, I compiled the “Yale Catalog of Bright Stars” and listed all the stars that one could – at least in principle – see in the sky with the naked eye. A total of 9,095 items are listed there. Today, thanks to light pollution, the number of unsupported stars has dropped sharply. However, it is reassuring that there is a definite answer, at least in theory. Hey can now be paraphrased accordingly:

See also  IPCC Climate Report: Serving the Climate Change Threshold - The Science Spectrum