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Time to dust off your super microscope and win the grand prize.
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Simply estimate the number of stars in the following mind-boggling view

of just a teeny-weeny part of the universe that, at the start, was only

total darkness as seen from the Hubble Telescope.
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http://www.spacedaily.com/images/hubble-ultradeep-desk-1024.jpg
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Remember, too, that the view you're seeing was as though the Hubble was

looking through a straw eight-foot long.
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I repeat: as seen through a straw EIGHT-FEET LONG.
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To get this view of galaxies galore, the Hubble had to utilize millions

of seconds of exposure -- one second at a time over a very long period.


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All estimates of stars -- NOT galaxies, that's too easy -- should be
mailed to:
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Count the Stars Contest
Smithsonian Insitution
National Museum of Natural History
Constitution Avenue & 10th Street NW
Washington DC USA 20560
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The grand prize will be a Tinkertoy Telescope which you can use to
doublecheck the findings of the Hubble.
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(Please note that all guesses under a 1,000,000,000 will be
automatically disqualifed as being too few.
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Ed Conrad (aka Dr.Evil)
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> http://www.edconrad.com
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Man as Old as Coal 
and 
Proof of Life After Death 
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