I hope this isn't too off-topic. Someone showed me a reference to a French, 11th century biblical commentator who implied that there were over 600,000 stars. This got me thinking, how many stars did people/astronomers think there were back then? As I understand it
For the actual reference, it is Rashi on Deut. 1:10:
The Lord, your God, has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens in abundance. (Deut 1:10)
And, behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens: But were they [the Israelites] on that day as [many as] the stars of the heavens? Were they not only six hundred thousand?
Assuming they only counted stars they could see, how many stars can a sharp-eyed person see with the naked eye, assuming ideal observing conditions of course? On top of that, were there any theories in ancient astronomy that extrapolated the number of stars to include ones that couldn't be seen?
Other links:
Wikipedia on Astronomy in Medieval Islam
Wikipedia on Astronomy in Medieval Europe
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