Created by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane on Aug 16, 2016 @ 2:15pm

THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

The number of stars in the MILKY WAY galaxy has not been definitely counted. Although Humans have been observing the sky at night since the earliest civilisations, the galaxy still remains too vast to be catalogued. As of the time of writing, less than 30% of the systems in the galaxy have been charted, and depending on the varying level of resources applied to exploration, the pace of Starfleet's push into the darkness alternates between quick and slow. The last extended exploration mission was that of the USS Discovery into the deadworlds of the Beta Quadrant between 2416-2422.

The primary way astronomers measure the amount of stars in a galaxy is by attempting to measure that galaxy's mass. Using a central point (Earth, as the former capital world of the Federation, is generally used for this) the mass of the Milky Way is estimated by observing how the galaxy rotates, as well as by how much its light wavelengths change. Once the mass is determined, astronomers then work out how much of that mass is stars and planets, by deducting estimated amounts of dark matter from the total. However, the estimated amount of dark matter within the galaxy varies wildly according to different astronomical schools of thought, and so an exact number of stars in the galaxy can only be estimated. Current estimates vary between 100 - 400 billion solar masses (stars) in the galaxy.

Therefore, as of 2435, Federation astronomers have catalogued almost 50 BILLION stars across the various spiral arms of the galaxy. The vast majority of these have astronomical designations, not names, and this figure includes data from both the Gamma and Delta Quadrants. With such astronomical numbers of stars (pun slightly intended) and a finite amount of starships to visit and chart them, it seems that exploration of the galaxy will not be finished for many more centuries. Who knows what wonders await us in the dark, beyond the range of our lights?