How Many Stars Are in The Universe? Poem by Paul Hartal

Stars are eternal objects of poetic wonder
and yearning, as well as bewitchment
and fascination.
Without a telescope we can see
only a few thousand stars in the night sky.
But the observable universe contains
millions of galaxies and in each of them
there are an incredible number of stars.
Our Mlky Way Galaxy alone contains
an estimated 100-400 billion stars
and a similar number of planets.
Astronomers say that there are
200 billion trillion stars in our universe.
However, it is unknown
if the universe is finite or infinite.
The human mind cannot grasp
the enormous size of such numbers.
For comparison, imagine though
that you attempt
to empty the Atlantic Ocean
with a drinking glass or a tea cup.
Of course, you would need
a lot of time to accomplish such a task
and take out countless trillions of cups
of sea water from the ocean.