Carefully trace an outline around each square. Count the number of characters in each square. Where characters are split by the boundary, they are counted only if half or more of the character lies within the square. Find the number of characters in each square, and complete the chart below. After that, the teacher should gather, organize, and sum the data gotten by each student on the chalk board or overhead.
Scientists believe that our galaxy contains five to ten times as much dark matter as visible stars.
This mass they believe, is equivalent to at least 600 billion stars. Other scientists believe there are closer to 200 billion visible stars in our galaxy. To try to comprehend these large numbers, and to compare characters on a newspaper page and the number of stars in our galaxy, complete the chart below. Characters Number of Number of Years of Number of stars per page pages issues publication required needed required 100 billion 200 billion 300 billion 2. The image of NGC 2997 and other information found within this lesson can also be found on the StarChild site.