Space

Astronomers calculate the total amount of starlight ever produced in the observable universe

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NGC 362, a 10-11 billion year-old star cluster, formed during the universe's peak of star formation
ESA/ Hubble & NASA
NGC 362, a 10-11 billion year-old star cluster, formed during the universe's peak of star formation
ESA/ Hubble & NASA
This map, compiled from nine years of Fermi data, shows gamma-ray sources from across the observable universe
NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

The universe has been making stars for a good 13 billion years or so, and a natural question to ask might be "how many stars have existed in that time?" But now astronomers have taken it several steps further and asked "how much light has been emitted in that time?" Using a new measurement method, the team has apparently managed to quantify all the starlight ever produced in the observable universe – and the result is a figure that'll make your eyes water.

Let's get this number out of the way first. According to the team's measurements, the amount of photons emitted by stars in the past 13 billion years is expressed as 4 x 10^84. In English, that's a 4 followed by 84 zeroes. That's 4 septenvigintillion, for those of you playing at home.

4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 photons.

Given how mind-bogglingly enormous the universe is, how can astronomers possibly calculate something like that? The researchers sifted through nine years of data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and analyzed how gamma rays from blazars interacted with the "cosmic fog" to arrive at the total amount of light ever produced.

This cosmic fog, more accurately known as the extragalactic background light (EBL), is made up of all the light emitted by stars across the spectrum of ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths. When gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, pass through this fog, they collide with other wavelengths of light to produce electrons and positrons. By analyzing these signatures from gamma rays from 739 blazars, the astronomers were able to measure the density of the fog at any given place, at any given time in the history of the universe.

This map, compiled from nine years of Fermi data, shows gamma-ray sources from across the observable universe
NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

"Gamma-ray photons traveling through a fog of starlight have a large probability of being absorbed," says Marco Ajello, lead researcher on the study. "By measuring how many photons have been absorbed, we were able to measure how thick the fog was and also measure, as a function of time, how much light there was in the entire range of wavelengths."

Fermi has been used to study the EBL in the past, but this new project used five times as many blazars as previous attempts. Since they're all located in different parts of the sky and at different distances, the team was able to peer deeper into space – and as a result, further back in time – than ever before.

The study was also able to determine that the universe's star formation peaked between 10 and 11 billion years ago. The team says this new gamma ray map lays the groundwork for future missions, like the James Webb Space Telescope, to peer even deeper into space and time.

"The first billion years of our universe's history are a very interesting epoch that has not yet been probed by current satellites," says Ajello. "Our measurement allows us to peek inside it. Perhaps one day we will find a way to look all the way back to the Big Bang. This is our ultimate goal."

The research was published in the journal Science. The team describes the work in the video below.

Sources: Clemson University, NASA

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6 comments
Altronix
I think the answer "a lot" would suit most people. Rather similar to the amount of hot air expelled in the Houses of Parliament.
Filipe
Which means approximately 1x10^67 photons per second! What?! LOL We get a huge number anyway when it comes to photos. Calculation: (4x10^84) / (13x10^9) / 365.25 / 24 / 3600
RMM
Observable Universe in the title....then THE Universe in the actual article. Interesting how these two terms always get conflated. Are they in fact the same? Nothing at all to see out there beyond the "speed of light" threshold for light to reach us? We are therefore at the center of all that is and supremely, singularly significant as Earthlings? I doubt it.
Gene Preston
10^84 doesn't seem like a big number compared to the number of atoms in the universe is 10^80. Just 400 power plants failure states have 10^120 different combinations. Using an efficient convolution process all 10^120 combinations can be modeled in a few seconds.
Jose Gros-Aymerich
Fine! To how many GigaTons of Hydrogen equals the amount of photons ever produced? You know A Einstein got his Nobel price for the description of photoelectric phenomenon, and with his equation E= mc2, the equivalence in the energy of photons, not all photons are generated with same energy, to weight of matter, can be reversely calculated. Or not? Would the amount of mass lost, 'burnt into fireworks', since universe started have an interest for assessment of universe dimensions, evolution, and fate? Was the 'dark' or 'not illuminated' matter just changed into photons, into several 'colors' of lights?
ljaques
I can now die in peace, knowing the guesstimated number of photons ever produced in just one universe. Some day, they'll guess the nth number, too, but that will have to wait for tesseract multidimensional math to be a bit further developed.