T: What Stars Are We Seeing Between Galaxies?

[thetexan]

Are there very many stars (percentage wise) between galaxies?

Or are most of the stars within galaxies?

I guess my main question is when we see stars that are not in our galaxy are we probably looking at a distant galaxy?Tex

 

[Drakkith]

The majority of stars are inside of galaxies, though there are some that get ejected and drift through intergalactic space.

I guess my main question is when we see stars that are not in our galaxy are we probably looking at a distant galaxy?

Most likely, yes. Though keep in mind that it is very, very difficult to observe solitary stars outside of our own galaxy. Only the largest telescopes have the resolution and light gathering power to see them.

 

[Chronos]

The only stars likely to exist outside of galaxies are those that have been ejected from their host galaxy via an encounter with a very massive body, like a black hole. As Drakkith noted, it is not easy to count extragalactic stragglers because individual stars are incredibly faint at intergalactic distances.

 

[Ken G]

There is recent work that suggests stars between galaxies might be a whole lot more common than we thought. I personally have to regard this work as speculative at present, but here's an article on it: http://www.space.com/27682-rogue-stars-between-galaxies.html