How many galaxies are there in the Universe, and is this even something that we can calculate?
It would be hard enough trying to count all the stars in the sky on a clear, dark night, but how could astronomers ever hope to calculate how many galaxies exist across the cosmos?
Simplistically, the number of galaxies in the Universe will be the size of the Universe times the average number density of galaxies. In practice, it is difficult to estimate these two numbers accurately.
The total size of the Universe is unknown. Recent research suggests it may be infinite, implying that there could be an infinite number of galaxies.
However, there is a limit beyond which we cannot see; because light from beyond has not had time to reach Earth since the Big Bang.
There are so many galactic behemoths that astronomers love to observe, including the Whirlpool Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, to name but a few.
And then you have to conceive that our own galaxy sits with the Triangulum and the Andromeda with 30-50 others in the so-called Local Group.
