This must be what I read; so I was under estimating. Although, personally, I wouldn’t know one from the other, I fondly assumed all stars must have planets. That would mean many more planets than stars, never mind grains of sand …

More stars ‘than grains of sand’
By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 23/07/2003)

There are 10 times more stars in the night sky than grains of sand in the world’s deserts and beaches, scientists say.

Astronomers have worked out that there are 70 thousand million million million – or seven followed by 22 zeros – stars visible from the Earth through telescopes. The total is said to be the most accurate estimate yet of the number of stars.

Dr Simon Driver, who led the study at the Australian National University, said: “Even for a professional astronomer used to dealing in monster numbers, this is mind boggling.”