] Australia (CNN) -- Ever wanted to wish upon a star? Well,
] you have 70,000 million million million to choose from.
]
] That's the total number of stars in the known universe,
] according to a study by Australian astronomers.
]
] It's also about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand
] on all the world's beaches and deserts.
]
] The figure -- 7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately,
] 70 sextillion -- was calculated by a team of stargazers
] based at the Australian National University.
]
] Speaking at the General Assembly of the International
] Astronomical Union meeting in Sydney, Dr Simon Driver
] said the number was drawn up based on a survey of one
] strip of sky, rather than trying to count every
] individual star.
]
] The team used two of the world's most powerful
] telescopes, one at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in
] northern New South Wales state and one in the Canary
] Islands, to carry out their survey.
]
] Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were
] pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness
] taken to calculate how many stars they contained.

Mind you - this is only the universe visible to earth! Who knows what that figure might really be?

QUICK! Someone register "sextillion.com" before the pr0n sites or squatters catch on. DOH! Too late!!

LB

Astronomers pick a sky high number