A new study reveals that the universe contains an amazing 2 trillion galaxies, 10 times more than previously thought. In the past 20 years, scientists estimated around 100 to 200 billion galaxies in the universe based on the images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The findings of the study were printed in the Astrophysical Journal on Jan. 16, 2017. It was led by Christopher Conselice, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, and other colleagues.
Professor Conselice said that it is very surprising to know that over the 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution since the Big Bang, galaxies have been growing through star formation and merging with other galaxies. He further said that finding more galaxies in the past implies that significant evolution must have occurred to reduce their number through an extensive merging of systems.
He added that they are missing the clear majority of galaxies because they are very faint and far away. Professor Conselice also said that the number of galaxies in the universe is a fundamental question in astronomy. He asked then, "Who knows what interesting properties we will find when we study these galaxies with the next generation of telescopes?"
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