[tzot]

“Scientifically standard” are the SI prefixes. So, given the ambiguity of what 1 gigastar is (1/1000th of 1 terastar or a really huge star?) one should say “10¹²s of stars” maybe.

[whimsicalism]

Yes, the SI prefixes are one example of something that is scientifically standard. The short scale is another.