Star - VY Canis Majoris is the largest of all known stars in the Milky Way. A mention of her can be found in a star catalog published back in 1801. There she is listed as a star of the seventh magnitude.
The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is located at a distance of 4900 light years from Earth. It is 2100 times larger than the Sun. In other words, if we imagine that VY suddenly appeared in the place of our luminary, then it would swallow up all the planets up to Saturn. In order to fly around such a "ball" at a speed of 900 km / h, it will take 1100 years. However, when moving at the speed of light, it will take much less time - only 8 minutes.
Since the middle of the 19th century, VY Canis Majoris has been known to have a crimson hue. It was assumed that it is a multiple. But later it turned out that this is a single star and it does not have a companion. And the raspberry glow spectrum is provided by the surrounding nebula.
3 or more stars that are seen as closely spaced are called a multiple star. If in fact they are just close to the line of sight, then this is an optical multiple star, if united by gravity, it is physically multiple.
With such gigantic dimensions, the mass of the star is only 40 times the mass of the Sun. The density of gases inside it is very low - this explains such an impressive size and relatively low weight. The force of gravity is not able to prevent the loss of stellar fuel. It is believed that by now the hypergiant has already lost more than half of its original mass.
Back in the middle of the 19th century, scientists noted that a giant star was losing its brightness. However, this parameter is still very impressive even now - the brightness of the VY glow is 500 times greater than the Sun.
Scientists believe that when the VY fuel runs out, it will explode in a supernova. The explosion will destroy any life for several light years around. But the Earth will not suffer - the distance is too great.
And the smallest
In 2006, it appeared in the press that a group of Canadian scientists led by Dr. Harvey Reicher had discovered the smallest of the currently known stars in our galaxy. It is located in the star cluster NGC 6397 - the second farthest from the Sun. The research was carried out using the Hubble telescope.
The mass of the discovered luminary is close to the theoretically calculated lower limit and is 8.3% of the mass of the Sun. The existence of smaller stellar objects is considered impossible. Their small size simply does not allow nuclear fusion reactions to begin. The brightness of such objects is similar to the glow of a candle lit on the moon.
Today you will learn about the most unusual stars. It is estimated that there are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe and about 100 billion stars in each galaxy. Given so many stars, there must be strange ones among them. Many of the sparkling, burning balls of gas are quite similar to each other, but some stand out for their odd size, weight, and behavior. Using modern telescopes, scientists continue to study these stars to better understand them and the universe, but mysteries still remain. Curious about the strangest stars? Here are 25 of the most unusual stars in the universe.
25. UY Scuti
Considered a supergiant star, UY Scuti is so large that it could swallow up our star, half of our neighboring planets, and virtually our entire solar system. Its radius is about 1700 times the radius of the Sun.
24. Star of Methuselah
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
The star of Methuselah, also called HD 140283, really lives up to its name. Some believe it is 16 billion years old, which is a problem since the Big Bang only happened 13.8 billion years ago. Astronomers have been trying to use better methods of age determination to better date the star, but they still believe it to be at least 14 billion years old.
23. Thorn-Zhitkov object
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Initially, the existence of this object was proposed theoretically by Kip Thorne (Kip Thorne) and Anna Zhitkova (Anna Zytkow), it represents two stars, a neutron and a red supergiant, combined into one star. A potential candidate for the role of this object has been named HV 2112.
22. R136a1 
Photo: flickr
Although UY Scuti is the largest star known to man, R136a1 is definitely one of the heaviest in the universe. Its mass is 265 times greater than the mass of our Sun. What makes her weird is that we don't know exactly how she was formed. The main theory is that it was formed by the merger of several stars.
21.PSR B1257+12
Photo: en.wikipedia.org
Most of the exoplanets in the solar system PSR B1257+12 are dead and bathed in deadly radiation from their old star. A surprising fact about their star is that the zombie star or pulsar has died, but the core still remains. The radiation emanating from it makes this solar system a no man's land.
20. SAO 206462
Photo: flickr
Consisting of two spiral arms spanning 14 million miles across, SAO 206462 is certainly the strangest and most unique star in the universe. While some galaxies are known to have arms, stars usually don't. Scientists believe that this star is in the process of creating planets.
19. 2MASS J0523-1403
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
2MASS J0523-1403 is arguably the smallest known star in the universe and is only 40 light years away. Due to its small size and mass, scientists believe that its age may be 12 trillion years.
18. Heavy metal subdwarfs
Photo: ommons.wikimedia.org
Astronomers recently discovered a pair of stars with a lot of lead in their atmospheres, which creates thick and heavy clouds around the star. They are called HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738 and are located 800 and 1000 light years away respectively, but you can just call them heavy metal subdwarfs. Scientists are still not sure how they form.
17. RX J1856.5-3754
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
From the moment of their birth, neutron stars begin to ceaselessly lose energy and cool down. Thus, it is unusual that a 100,000-year-old neutron star such as RX J1856.5-3754 could be so hot and not show any signs of activity. Scientists believe that interstellar material is held together by the strong gravitational field of the star, resulting in enough energy to heat the star.
16. KIC 8462852
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The star system KIC 8462852 has received a lot of attention and interest from SETI and astronomers for its unusual behavior of late. Sometimes it dims by 20 percent, which may mean that something is orbiting around it. Of course, this prompted some to conclude that these were aliens, but another explanation is the debris of a comet that entered the same orbit with a star.
15. Vega
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Vega is the fifth brightest star in the night sky, but that doesn't make it weird at all. The high rotation speed of 960,600 km per hour gives it the shape of an egg, and not spherical, like our Sun. There are also temperature variations, with colder temperatures at the equator.
14.SGR 0418+5729
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
A magnet located 6,500 light-years from Earth, SGR 0418+5729 has the strongest magnetic field in the universe. The strange thing about it is that it does not fit the image of traditional magnetars with a surface magnetic field, as in ordinary neutron stars.
13. Kepler-47
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
In the constellation Cygnus, 4,900 light-years from Earth, astronomers have first discovered a pair of planets orbiting two stars. Known as the Kelper-47 system, the orbiting stars outshine each other every 7.5 days. One star is roughly the size of our Sun, but only 84 percent as bright. The discovery proves that more than one planet can exist in a stressful orbit of a binary star system.
12. La Superba
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
La Superba is another massive star located 800 light years away. It is about 3 times heavier than our Sun and four astronomical units in size. It is so bright that it can be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
11. MY Camelopardalis
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
MY Camelopardalis was thought to be a single bright star, but the two stars were later found to be so close that they practically touch each other. Two stars slowly fuse together to form one star. No one knows when they will fully merge.
10.PSR J1719-1438b
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Technically, PSR J1719-1438b is not a star, but it was once. When it was still a star, its outer layers were sucked out by another star, turning it into a small planet. What's even more amazing about this former star is that it's now a giant diamond planet five times the size of Earth.
9. OGLE TR-122b
Photo: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Usually, against the background of an average star, the rest of the planets resemble pebbles, but OGLE TR-122b is about the same size as Jupiter. That's right, it's the smallest star in the universe. Scientists believe it originated as a stellar dwarf billions of years ago, the first time a star comparable in size to a planet has been discovered.
8. L1448 IRS3B
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Astronomers discovered the three-star system L1448 IRS3B as it began to form. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile, they observed two young stars orbiting a much older star. They believe that these two young stars appeared as a result of a nuclear reaction with gas rotating around the star.
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Mira, also known as Omicron Ceti, is 420 light-years away and is quite strange due to its constantly fluctuating brightness. Scientists consider it a dying star, located in the last years of its life. Even more amazing is that it travels through space at 130 kilometers per second and has a tail that spans several light-years.
6. Fomalhaut-C
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
If you think the two-star system was cool, then you might want to see Fomalhaut-C. It is a system with three stars only 25 light years from Earth. Although triple star systems are not entirely unique, this one is because the arrangement of the stars far away rather than close together is an anomaly. The star Fomalhaut-C is especially far away from A and B.
5. Swift J1644+57
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The appetite of a black hole is not picky. In the case of Swift J1644+57, a dormant black hole woke up and engulfed the star. Scientists made this discovery in 2011 using X-ray and radio waves. It took 3.9 billion light years for light to reach Earth.
4.PSR J1841-0500
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Known for their regular and constantly pulsating glow, they are rapidly rotating stars that rarely "turn off". But PSR J1841-0500 surprised scientists by only doing it for 580 days. Scientists believe that studying this star will help them understand how pulsars work.
3.PSR J1748-2446
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The strangest thing about PSR J1748-2446 is that it is the fastest rotating object in the universe. It has a density 50 trillion times that of lead. To top it off, its magnetic field is a trillion times stronger than that of our Sun. In short, this is an insanely hyperactive star.
2. SDSS J090745.0+024507
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
SDSS J090745.0+024507 is a ridiculously long name for a runaway star. With the help of a supermassive black hole, the star has been blasted out of its orbit and is moving fast enough to exit the Milky Way. Let's hope that none of these stars will rush in our direction.
1. Magnetar SGR 1806-20
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Magnetar SGR 1806-20 is a terrifying force that exists in our universe. Astronomers detected a bright flash at a distance of 50,000 light-years, and it was so powerful that it reflected off the Moon and illuminated the Earth's atmosphere for ten seconds. The solar flare raised questions among scientists about whether such a flare could lead to the extinction of all life on Earth.
> > The largest star in the universe
UY Scuti - the largest star in the universe: description and characteristics of a star with a photo, location in the constellation, distance from the Earth, a list of the largest stars.
When looking at the night sky, it's easy to feel tiny. You just need to select an object for comparison. How about a star? Just look into the territory of the Scutum constellation and you will find the largest star in our galaxy and the visible Universe - UY Scutum.
In 1860, the star was found by German scientists at the Bonn Observatory. But only in 2012 was it possible to conduct a survey with the Very Large Telescope (Atacama Desert). Since its discovery, it is the largest star in terms of size, surpassing Betelgeuse, VY Canis Major and NML Cygnus.
Of course, there are record holders for brightness and density, but UY Scutum has the largest overall size at a radius of 1,054,378,000 to 1,321,450,000 miles, which is 1,700 times the sun.
People think that the Earth is huge. But let's take an 8-inch ball. The scale of the Sun would then be 73 feet in diameter, which is more than the height of the White House. Now let's put UY of the Shield next to it and we get a diameter of 125,000 feet.
What happens if you put UY Shield on a sunny position? The star will dine on the first five planets and exit Jupiter's orbital path. But many people think that it can even cross the line of Saturn's orbit.
Well, let's be glad that the star is still not located in the solar system and is 9500 light years distant.
It is important to emphasize that with the improvement of terrestrial instruments, we are discovering new objects that are distant over long distances. Which means we might one day bump into an even bigger star.
It is worth noting that the largest known stars are represented here, as there are still many objects out of sight. Also, some of the named ones act as variables, which means that they are constantly compressed and expanded. Now you know what is the largest star in space. Let's take a look at the rest of the top ten the largest stars in the universe:
List of the largest stars in the universe
The radius of the red supergiant VY Canis Majoris reaches 1800-2100 solar, which makes it the largest in the galaxy. If put in place, it would cover the orbital path. It is 3900 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major.
It is a red supergiant, 1000 times the solar radius. Located 6000 light years away. Represented by a binary system, where the main star is accompanied by a small blue one.
Mu Cephei
Mu Cephei is a red supergiant with a radius 1,650 times that of the sun and 38,000 times brighter.
V 838 Monocerotis is a red variable star, 20,000 light years distant. It can reach the size of Mu Cepheus or VV Cepheus A, but a large distance makes it difficult to determine exactly. The range covers 380-1970 solar radii.
A red supergiant that is 1540 times the solar radius. It is located in the constellation Dorado.
V354 Cephei
A red supergiant that exceeds the solar radius by 1520 times. It is 9000 light years away in the constellation Cepheus.
KY Swan
1420 times the solar radius, although some estimates put forward a figure of 2850 times. The star is 5000 light years away and has not yet been able to get a clear image.
KW Sagittarius
The red supergiant is 1460 times larger in radius than the Sun. Located at 7800 light years.
RW Cephei
Red supergiant with a radius of 1600 solar. From the position of the Sun, it could reach the orbital path of Jupiter.
A red supergiant whose radius is 1000 times that of the sun. This is the most popular star, as it is located quite close (640 light years) to. At any moment it can transform into a supernova.
The sun is not the biggest star in the universe. Compared to other stars, it can even be called small. But on the scale of our planet, the Sun is truly huge. Its diameter is 1.39 million km, it contains 99.86% of the entire matter of the solar system, and a million of the same planets as our Earth can be placed inside the star.
The only and unique for the inhabitants of the Earth, the Sun is just one of the billions of billions of stars located in our Milky Way galaxy, and beyond it - in the vast Universe. Some of these stars are really huge: they are clearly visible in the electromagnetic range and have a significant gravitational effect on nearby celestial bodies that we can detect them even if they are millions of light years away from our planet. Their dimensions are so large that a person is simply not able to imagine such a gigantic object, therefore they are measured not in kilometers, but in solar radii and solar masses. One solar radius is 696,342 km, and one solar mass is approximately 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
Stars that are significantly distinguished from others by their mass and size are classified as hypergiants. Among the many hypergiants recorded in the vast expanses of the universe, three of them can be especially distinguished.
R136a1
The largest star will not always be the heaviest, and vice versa, the heaviest star does not have to be the largest at all. This is easily proved by the star under the beautiful name R136a1. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud at a distance of 165,000 light years from Earth, its mass is 265 solar masses, which is an absolute record at the moment, while its radius is "only" 31 solar radii. The huge fuel reserves inside this hypergiant and the extremely high density of matter allow R136a1 to emit 10 million times more light than the Sun, making it the brightest and most powerful star discovered to date. Scientists suggest that at the beginning of its life, this star could reach 320 solar masses, however, the stellar matter in the atmosphere of R136a1 accelerates more than the second cosmic velocity and overcomes the gravity of this celestial body, which generates a strong stellar wind, i.e. the outflow of stellar matter into interstellar space with a rapid loss of its mass.
UY Scutum will not amaze you with its mass, which is 10 solar radii, but you will be surprised by its colossal size - about 1500 solar radii. The distance to UY Scutum is 9500 light years, and at this distance it is difficult to say the exact radius of the star, but astronomers suggest that during pulsations it can increase to 2000 solar radii! If such a giant were placed in the center of the solar system, then it would swallow up all of space, including the orbit of Jupiter along with the planet itself. The volume of this hypergiant is 5 billion times greater than the volume of the Sun.
UY Scutum in the constellation Scutum | UY Shield is located at a distance of almost ten thousand light-years from the solar system, but due to the fact that the star is one of the brightest among those discovered, it can be easily seen from Earth with an ordinary amateur telescope, and in especially favorable conditions with the naked eye. By the way, if UY Scutum were not surrounded by a large cloud of dust, then this star would be the fifth brightest object in the night sky, while now it is the eleventh.
NML Cygnus
The star NML Cygnus is a real record holder with a radius equal to 1650 solar radii. During the pulsations of a star, the radius can reach about 2700 solar radii! If you place this hypergiant in the center of the solar system, then its photosphere will go far beyond the orbit of Jupiter, covering half the distance to Saturn.
Photograph of the Cygnus OB2 group of stars | source The star NML Cygnus, located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 5300 light years from Earth, is the largest star known to astronomy at the moment. However, we can say with confidence that further exploration of space will bring new discoveries and records.
People tend to look at the sky, watching millions and millions of stars. We dream of distant worlds and draw images of our brothers in mind. Each world illuminates its own "sun". Research equipment looks deep into space at 9 billion light years.
But even this is not enough to say with accuracy how many stars are in space. At the current stage of the study, about 50 billion are known. This number is steadily growing, as there is constant research, technology is being improved. People learn about new giants and dwarfs in the world of space objects. Which of the stars is the largest in the universe?
Sun Dimensions
Thinking about the dimensions of the stars, understand what to compare with, feel the scale. The size of our Sun is impressive. Its diameter is 1.4 million km. This huge number is hard to imagine. The fact that the mass of the Sun is 99.9% of the mass of all objects in the solar system will help in this. Theoretically, a million planets could fit inside our star.
Using these numbers, astronomers have coined the terms "solar radius" and "solar mass" that are used to compare the sizes and masses of space objects. The radius of the Sun is 690,000 km, and the weight is 2 billion kilograms. Compared to other stars, the Sun is a relatively small cosmic object.
Former All-Star Champion
The stellar mass is constantly "thinning" because of the "stellar wind". Thermonuclear processes, continuously shaking the universal luminaries, lead to the loss of hydrogen - "fuel" for reactions. Accordingly, the mass also decreases. Therefore, it is difficult for scientists to give exact figures regarding the parameters of such large and hot objects. The luminaries age and, after a supernova explosion, turn into a neutron star or a black hole.
For decades, VY was recognized as the largest star in the constellation Canis Major. Not so long ago, the parameters were specified, and scientists' calculations showed that its radius is 1300-1540 solar radii. The diameter of the giant is 2 billion kilometers, and it is located 5,000 light-years from Earth.
To imagine the dimensions of this object, imagine that it will take 1200 years to fly around it, moving at a speed of 800 km / h. If you suddenly imagine that the Earth was compressed to 1 cm and VY was also reduced, then the giant will be 2.2 km in size.
But the mass of the star is small and exceeds the mass of the Sun only 40 times. This is due to the low density of the substance. The brightness of the light is truly amazing. It emits light 500,000 times brighter than ours. VY was first mentioned in 1801. It was described by the scientist Joseph Jérôme de Lalande. The record says that the luminary belongs to the seventh grade.
Since 1850, observations have shown a gradual loss of brightness. The outer edge of VY began to increase because the forces of gravity no longer hold the mass at a constant level. Soon (by cosmic standards) a supernova explosion of this star is possible. Scientists say it could happen tomorrow or in a million years. Science does not have exact numbers.
Reigning Star Champion
Space exploration continues. In 2010, scientists led by Paul Crowther saw an impressive space object using the Hubble telescope. Exploring the Large Magellanic Cloud, astronomers discovered a new star and gave it the name R136a1. From us to R136a1, the distance is 163,000 light years.
The parameters shocked the scientists. The mass of the giant exceeds the mass of the Sun by 315 times, despite the fact that it was previously stated that there are no stars in space that exceed our Sun in mass by 150 times. Such a phenomenon occurred, according to the hypothesis of scientists, due to the connection of several objects. The brightness of the glow of R136a1 exceeds the brightness of the radiation of our sun by 10 million times.
During the period from discovery to our time, the star has lost one-fifth of its mass, but it is still considered a record holder even among its neighbors. They were also discovered by Crowther's group. These objects also exceeded the milestone of 150 solar masses.
Scientists have calculated that if R136a1 is placed in the solar system, then the brightness of the glow compared to our luminary will be the same as if the brightness of the Sun and the Moon were compared.
This is the largest star known to mankind so far. Surely in the Milky Way galaxy there are dozens, if not hundreds, of larger luminaries, closed from our eyes by gas and dust clouds.
VV Cephei 2. At 2400 light years, VV Cepheus 2 is located, which exceeds the size of the Sun by 1600-1900 times. The radius is 1050 radii of our Sun. In terms of light emission, the star exceeds the landmark from 275 to 575 thousand times. This is a variable pulsar, pulsing with an interval of 150 days. The speed of the cosmic wind directed away from the sun is 25 km/sec.
Sizes of the Sun and Star VV Cephei 2 Studies have proven that VV Cephei 2 is a double star. The eclipse of the second star B occurs regularly every 20 years. VV Cephei B revolves around the main star VV Cephei 2. It is blue and has a rotation period of 20 years. The eclipse lasts 3.6 years. The object surpasses the Sun in mass by 10 times, and by the intensity of the glow - by 100,000 times.
Mu Cephei. Cepheus flaunts a red supergiant, larger than the Sun by 1650 times. Mu Cephei is the brightest star in the Milky Way. The brightness of the glow is 38,000 times higher than the guideline. It is also known as the "garnet star of Herschel". Studying the star in the 1780s, the scientist called it "a delightfully beautiful garnet-colored object."
In the sky of the northern hemisphere, it is observed without a telescope from August to January, it resembles a drop of blood in the sky. After two or three million years, a giant supernova explosion is expected, which will turn the star into a black hole or a pulsar and a gas and dust cloud.
At 20,000 light-years from Earth, the red giant V838 shines in the constellation Monoceros. This cluster of stars, previously unknown to anyone, "became famous" in 2002. At this time, an explosion occurred there, which astronomers first perceived as a supernova explosion. But due to its young age, the star did not approach the cosmic "death".
For a long time they could not even guess what the cause of the cataclysm was. Hypotheses have now been put forward that the object has swallowed up a "companion star" or objects orbiting around it.
The object is credited with dimensions from 1170 to 1970 solar radii. Due to the gigantic distance, scientists do not give exact numbers for the mass of the red variable star.
Until recently, scientists believed that the parameters of WHO 64 are comparable to R136a1 from the constellation Canis Major.
But it was found that the size of this luminary is only 1540 times larger than the sun. It shines from the Large Magellanic Cloud.
V354 Cephei. The red supergiant V354 Cephei, 9,000 light-years from Earth, is invisible without a telescope.
It is located in the Milky Way galaxy. The temperature on the shell is 3650 degrees Kelvin, the radius is 1520 times greater than the solar one and is determined at 1.06 billion km.
KY Swan. It would take 5,000 light years to fly to KY Cygnus. This time is hard to imagine. Such figures mean that a beam of light flies at hyperluminal speed from a star to the Earth for 5000 years.
If we compare the radius of the object and the Sun, then it will be 1420 solar radii. The mass of the star is only 25 times the mass of the landmark. But KY will quite compete for the title of the brightest star in the part of the Universe open to us. Its luminosity outstrips the solar millions of times.
KW Sagittarius. 10,000 irresistible light years separate us from the KW star in Sagittarius.
It is a red supergiant with a size of 1460 solar radii and a luminosity 360,000 times higher than that of our Sun.
The constellation is visible in the sky of the southern hemisphere. It is easy to find on the surface of the Milky Way. The star cluster was first described by Ptolemy in the second century.
RW Cephei. The dimensions of RW Cepheus are still being debated. Some scientists claim that the dimensions are equal to 1260 radii of the landmark, others are inclined to believe that they are 1650 solar radii. It is the largest variable star.
If it is moved to the place of the Sun in our system, then the supergiant photosphere will be between the trajectories of Saturn and Jupiter. The star is rapidly flying towards the solar system at a speed of 56 km/sec. The end of the star will turn it into a supernova, or the core will collapse into a black hole.
Betelgeuse. The red giant Betelgeuse lies 640 light-years away in Orion. The size of Betelgeuse is 1100 solar radii. Astronomers are confident that in the near future there will be a period of rebirth of a star into a black hole or supernova. Humanity will see this universal show from the "front row".
As we eagerly gaze into the sky with all our instruments and explore it with robotic spacecraft and human crewed missions, we are sure to make amazing new discoveries that will take us even further into space.
We are constantly studying new objects among the trillions of celestial bodies. We will discover more than one new star, which will outshine the already known ones in size. But alas, we will never know about the true scale of the universe.
