{"id":63787,"date":"2024-09-11T11:04:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T11:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/62cc1eaf-93c3-47a3-8ddc-3f858aba6da3"},"modified":"2024-09-11T11:39:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T11:39:39","slug":"biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest stars in the Universe and how to see them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Use our star charts to help you point your telescope at 4 mindblowing hypergiants. <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 11 September 2024 at 11:04 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Ever wanted to point your telescope at and observe some of the biggest known stars in the Universe?<\/p>

In this guide we’ll show you how to find 4 hypergiant stars: colossal beasts of the cosmos.<\/p>

The biggest hypergiant stars would be able to fit 10 billion Suns inside them, or 14 quadrillion Earths.<\/p>

Read on for our guide on how to find these stellar behemoths for yourself.<\/p>

And for more like this, read our guide to the biggest things in the Universe<\/a><\/p>

How to find the biggest stars in the night sky<\/b><\/h2>

Hypergiant stars aren’t just incredible cosmological phenomena; they’re targets that you can see for yourself in the night sky using a telescope.<\/p>

Focus your scope on these bright, giant oddities of the Universe<\/p>

Rho Cassiopeiae<\/b><\/h3>

Magnitude:<\/b> +4.1 to +6.2<\/p>

This yellow hypergiant star is located in the prominent W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia<\/a>. It\u2019s a semi-variable star, meaning its brightness changes over time.<\/p>

Usually it is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, but in the past it has temporarily dimmed enough to make binoculars necessary. <\/p>

P Cygni<\/b><\/h3>
\"Chart<\/figure>

Magnitude: <\/b>+4.8<\/p>

Despite the fact that it is over 5,000 lightyears away, this luminous blue hypergiant is so bright that it\u2019s visible to the unaided eye in the constellation of Cygnus<\/a>, the Swan.<\/p>

You\u2019ll find it shining with a magnitude of +4.8 close to where the tail and wings of the Swan meet.<\/p>

VY Canis Majoris<\/b><\/h3>
\"Chart<\/figure>

Magnitude: <\/b>+6.5 to +9.6<\/p>

VY Canis Majoris<\/a> is one the biggest stars in the Universe. This pulsating red hypergiant is located in the constellation of Canis Major<\/a>, or the Great Dog, diagonally down to the left of Orion\u2019s Belt<\/a>.<\/p>

It\u2019s visible from the UK in the winter and very close to the horizon below Sirius.<\/p>

V 4030 Sagittarii & V 4029 Sagittarii<\/b><\/h3>
\"Chart<\/figure>

Magnitude: <\/b>+8.3<\/p>

This pair of blue hypergiants is located to the southeast of the Omega Nebula<\/a> (M17) in the constellation of Sagittarius<\/a>. The lid of the Teapot asterism<\/a> points towards them.<\/p>

Sharing a similar brightness, they can be easily seen through a modest amateur telescope low in the south during the summer months.<\/p>

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

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Use our star charts to help you point your telescope at 4 mindblowing hypergiants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":63788,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them.jpg",1280,772,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them-300x181.jpg",300,181,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them-768x463.jpg",768,463,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them-1024x618.jpg",800,483,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them.jpg",1280,772,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/09\/biggest-stars-in-the-universe-and-how-to-see-them.jpg",1280,772,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Use our star charts to help you point your telescope at 4 mindblowing hypergiants.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/63787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}