[Avodah] Sand and stars

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 11:04:16PM -0500, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: I made a mistake and thereby vastly UNDERcounted the number of stars in the 
: universe.  I should have written that there are TWO HUNDRED BILLION stars  
: or more in our galaxy.  I have even seen estimates of four hundred billion  
: and six hundred billion.  

HQBH told Avraham to go outside and try to count the kokhavim. So,
rather than discussing the astronomical question of the number of stars,
we need to add the pragmatic limitations of human sight. And a galaxy
is just one kokhav, if it looks like one dot. As are some of the planets
of the solar system (kokhavei lekhes).

Someone with 20/20 vision on a dark night (Rosh Chodesh before modern
lighting) would see all stars above the 6th magnitude. There are 7,200
or so such stars, of which half are below the horizon rather than in
your sky. Okay, if the Milky Way is out, far more than half.

Still, we're talking far far fewer than the number of yotz'ei Mitzrayim,
never mind the number of grains.

So, I would stick with your thesis -- the point is "uncountably many",
not a number.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
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