Original Estimates were off by an Order of Magnitude

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Original estimates of 2 trillion galaxies in the Universe were wrong. The latest observations show that the number is likely only in the hundreds of billions.



The published findings in New Horizons Observations of the Cosmic Optical Background are in stark contrast to the 2 trillion figure that had long been used, thanks to data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists used a mathematical model to determine that 90% of the galaxies in the universe were beyond Hubble's ability to see "visible light."

The New Horizons spacecraft, which launched in January 2006 and is presently 4.4 billion miles from Earth, will eventually reach interstellar space, like the Voyager probes before it. The fact that it is currently near the edge of the Solar System allows it to see ambient sky 10 times darker than the Hubble's vantage point.

"These kinds of measurements are exceedingly difficult. A lot of people have tried to do this for a long time," the study's co-author, Tod Lauer, explained. "New Horizons provided us with a vantage point to measure the cosmic optical background better than anyone has been able to do it."

Source: NASA finds there are fewer galaxies than first thought, leaving the possibility we're alone in the universe

Phew, that's shaved a good 25,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,003 Galactic Years off my itinary. I'll be able to get round them all much quicker now.

Interesting to see New Horizons used this way- as a pocket space telescope, with relatively modest magnification but an unbeatable location. (I'm fond of that probe. Finding out that a pluto mission had just launched helped revive my interest in space.)

Ten times fewer aliens likely to visit us.