Mar 21, 2019, 18:32. We are only just finding planets around other stars, let alone moons. The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy, and our galaxy contains billions - perhaps hundreds of billions - of stars. We have 8 planets and 5 official dwarf planets in our Solar System. "It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Our Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 100 billion alien planets, and possibly many more, a new study suggests. Scientists estimate that 100 to 400 billion planets exist in the Milky Way galaxy. Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Stars are not scattered randomly through space, they are gathered together into vast groups known as galaxies. We can see thousands of these stars with the naked eye, and many more in a telescope. We can see thousands of these stars with the naked eye, and many more in a telescope. The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Recently I was asked to help someone answer the question of how many stars are in the Milky Way - that there were differing answers out there, and which was the right one? As additional data is accumulated and analyzed, the number of candidates will increase. Who knows. Here are the ones you need to know. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. As of May 2010, 455 planets have been found outside of our Solar System. 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting Sun-like stars. We have so far discovered 347 exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System). There are an estimated 200 -> 400 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. In November 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs in the Milky Way, 11 billion of which may be orbiting Sun-like stars. Doing the math, we can then say that the Milky Way galaxy has – on average – between 800 billion and 3.2 trillion planets, with some estimates placing that number as high a 8 trillion! Extrapolating out to the rest of the galaxy, scientists estimate that the Milky Way could contain upwards of 50 billion planets, 500 million of which could be in their stars' habitable zones. Wiki User December 11, 2009 1:36PM. how many planets are in the milky way, ... Astrophysical Journal. In the Milky Way galaxy, approximately 8.8 billion planets are in … This question turns out to have a really interesting (and possibly frustrating?) On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way galaxy. We can make estimates, but there isn't a firm, solid, 100% answer. But these were just the worlds around our Sun, which houses (according to current definition) eight planets. Not only does it measure some 120,000–180,000 light-years in diameter, it is home to planet Earth, the birthplace of … Top Answer. That's a … This artist's illustration gives an impression of how common planets are around the stars in the Milky Way. answer. This is not an easy question to answer, because there are several recent conflicting estimates of the size of the Milky Way. There are eight planets in our Solar System. The 9 Wildest and Most Wonderful Planets in the Milky Way For 20 years now, we've been discovering planets far outside our solar system. So how many stars are there in the Universe? And the answer is that we really don't know. The Milky Way Galaxy is an immense and very interesting place. It is easy to ask this question, but difficult for scientists to give a fair answer! It is estimated that there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. But how many stars are in the Milky Way? But how many stars are in the Milky Way? Some studies suggest that the number of planets in the Milky Way is greater than the number of stars, proposing that an average of 1.6 planets exist per star. The planets, their orbits and their host stars are all … "It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer. How many planets in the Milky Way have no moons? But these were just the worlds around our Sun, which houses (according to current definition) eight planets. Why is this? We don't know how many of them have planets around them, or how many planets for the ones that do have them.