{"id":44172,"date":"2023-04-14T08:19:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T08:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=117913"},"modified":"2023-04-14T09:32:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T09:32:31","slug":"meet-vy-canis-majoris-one-of-the-biggest-stars-in-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/meet-vy-canis-majoris-one-of-the-biggest-stars-in-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet VY Canis Majoris, one of the biggest stars in the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just how big is VY Canis Majoris and how does its size compare to that of the Sun and planet Earth? <\/p>

By Colin Stuart\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 14 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The celestial beasts known as hypergiant stars are truly colossal in size.<\/p>\n

The biggest hypergiants would be able to squeeze 10 billion of our Suns inside, or 14 quadrillion Earths.<\/p>\n

Truly, the staggering size of these largest of stars is hard to comprehend.<\/span><\/p>\n

To really understand just how big these stars<\/a> are, we\u2019ve taken a look at one of the most famous hypergiant stars, VY Canis Majoris, which is one the biggest stars in the Universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discover more mind-blowing science in our guides to the biggest objects in the Universe<\/a> and the weirdest stars in the Universe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Chart showing the location of hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris in the night sky. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

VY Canis Majoris is a red hypergiant that can be seen in the constellation of Canis Major<\/a>, the Great Dog.<\/span><\/p>\n

You could fit at least 1,420 Suns across the face of VY Canis Majoris, making its total diameter close to 2 billion kilometres.<\/p>\n

Some estimates put it at over 2,000 Suns across, or almost 3 billion kilometres wide.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Illustration showing how big VY Canis Majoris is compared to our Sun.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Earth orbits a mere 150 million kilometres from the Sun, meaning VY Canis Majoris is at least 13 times wider than the Earth\u2013Sun distance.<\/p>\n

It would take almost 3 billion Suns to fill up VY Canis Majoris.<\/p>\n

Even Mercury<\/a>, the smallest planet, can only fit inside the Sun 21 million times. A supergiant star like Betelgeuse<\/a> would fit inside hypergiant VY Canis Majoris 8 times over.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Illustration showing how big VY Canis Majoris is compared to Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Despite travelling at around 300,000 kilometres per second, it would take a beam of light 6 hours to travel around the circumference of VY Canis Majoris.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s about the same amount of time it took for photos of Kuiper Belt Object<\/a> Arrokoth to travel back to Earth from NASA\u2019s New Horizons probe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This guide originally appeared in the May 2023 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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