Shadow of the Dark Rift
He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
Psalm 147:4 (ESV)
According to David Kornreich, an assistant professor at Ithaca College in New York State, there is a very rough estimate of 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. Multiplying that by the Milky Way’s estimated 100 billion stars results in a large number indeed: 100 octillion stars, or 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, or a “1” with 29 zeros after it. Kornreich emphasized that number is likely a gross underestimation, as more detailed looks at the universe will show even more galaxies.
But the same God that determines the number of each of these stars and has called each of them by name is also the God who loves us and cares for us, who’s formed our inmost being (Psalm 139), and is the same God who’s has numbered the very hairs on our heads (Matthew 10)…. Wow….
* The science-y stuff (don’t you just love technical terms!?) on this page is from this article at www.space.com:
http://www.space.com/26078-how-many-stars-are-there.html
Main photo courtesy of NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html
Madoc Davies 