i say no. its impossible.  for more read my post above titled "more stars in sky than grains of sand on earth"???????

u have 10 days to get in ur answers.

Actually, the estimate of each is about the same!

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun99/927857197.Es.r.html

http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Extraterrestrial%20life.htm

Most scientists estimate there are around 1022 (that is 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!) stars in the universe, and roughly the same number of grains of sand on the Earth.  But of course it is impossible to count them, both are just estimates.

Myself, I believe there are more stars.  The earth (and the amount of sand on it) are finite numbers.  And by current cosmology, space is infinite.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=539329

To put this even more in perspective, I will let Monty Python try and explain exactly how big the universe actually is:

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And reolving at nine thousand miles an hour.
It's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
'Round the sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at fourteen thousand miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred million stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

<waltz>

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, that's the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

(Eric Idle, from "Monty Python & The Meaning Of Life)

To put it more in perspective, 200 million years ago, the super-continent of Pangaea just started to break up.  Bees, butterflies & fruit plants had recently evolved.  Live birth by early mammals and advanced reptiles had recently evolved.  And that was "1 Galactic Year" ago!  IN other words, last time the Sol system was in this place in it's revolution around the center of the galaxy, that is what the Earth was like.  And next time we are in this position 200 million years from now, the continents are expected to just start coliding into another "super continent.

If this does not give you an idea on the scale of the size of the galaxy alone (let alone the universe) I have no idea what will.

http://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/cd200.html

yeah but eventually its gonna suck back in.  and if not i still stick with not beleiving that there are more stars than sand. in
forty trillion years, maybe.  although im sure that in 40 trilion year the univers would have expandid to its limits and retracted.
nothing goes on forever.

                   
                            the whole thought is mind bogling:  :D

Well, those time scales are way off what is really most likely going to happen.

By best estimates, the Universe is now around 13.7 billion years old.

As far as it's death, that depends on how much matter there is.  The numbery vare from 30 to 50 billion years, depending on if you believe in the "Big RIP" or the "Big Crunch" theory of the end of the Universe.  "Eternal Steady-State" universe theory went out the window with the confirmation of the "Big Bang".

So either way, there is no way the universe will get to 40 trillion years.  By that time all the stars would have burned themselves out, or the universe will compress itself again and start the cycle all over again.  That is like 200 "Big Bang - Big Crunch" cycles.

You might want to do some research for yourself on this subject, instead of just trying to guess at it.  Just type in Google "amount of sand in the earth", then "amount of stars in the universe".  The numbers of most guesses are out there, and are not more then 102 to 1010 away from each other.  While those sound like huge numbers, when you consider the sheer amount of guesswork involved, it really is not all that much.

And lust read the words to the song I posted.  Granted, that is circa 1983, but for the most part the same numbers still apply.

Currently, there are an estimated 80-125 Billion galaxies in the universe.  The numbers of stars in a galaxy can range from 200 billion to 3 trillion stars in a "Super Galaxy".  Our own is estimated to have around 300 billion stars.  Just do a little math.

This topic is waaaay to heavy for me, man.  But thanks for quoting some Monty Python there, Mush!

This topic is waaaay to heavy for me, man.  But thanks for quoting some Monty Python there, Mush!
Yep, I'm with you on both counts, Max...Monty Python rocks ;D :)

Yep, I'm with you on both counts, Max...Monty Python rocks ;D :)


Hey, no problem!  Being a big fan, I love to bring MP in whenever something is getting out of control.  And there is nothing like "The Universe Song" to drive to a person exactly how small and insignificant we all really are.

Besides, anybody that can be crucified and sing "Always Look On The Birght Side Of Life" has to be a real optimist.  8)

I'm no Carl Sagan, so I don't know.

exatly my point, i do believe the big crunch theory. there for the universe will never become old enough for that many stars to have been born.  there arent that many stars and never will be.

Hey, no problem!  Being a big fan, I love to bring MP in whenever something is getting out of control.  And there is nothing like "The Universe Song" to drive to a person exactly how small and insignificant we all really are.

Besides, anybody that can be crucified and sing "Always Look On The Birght Side Of Life" has to be a real optimist.  8)
;D Right you are!

exatly my point, i do believe the big crunch theory. there for the universe will never become old enough for that many stars to have been born.  there arent that many stars and never will be.


So you are then a believer in the "Big RIP" theory.  In that theory, the universe will expand and expand forever.  As stars and galaxies drift farther and farther apart, empathy will begin to catch up and stars will die.  In roughly 30 billion years, they will have all died out, and then there will never be any stars again, all possible life in the universe will be over.

Of course, by that theory the universe will still become "40 trillion years old" eventually.  It will just be a dead empty universe, with nothing but inert matter.  A rather depressing view of the future if you ask me.