The biggest star is. The biggest stars in the Universe - list, size, comparison, video. Our solar system
Look at the night sky and see that it is filled with stars. But with the naked eye, only a microscopic fraction of them can be seen. There are up to 100 billion stars in a galaxy alone, and there are even more galaxies in the universe. Astronomers believe that there are about 10^24 stars in the world. These powerful power plants come in a variety of colors and sizes - and next to many of them, our Sun looks like a crumb. But which star will be the true giant of the heavens? It’s worth starting with a definition of what we mean by a giant. Will it be the star with the largest radius, for example, or the one with the largest mass?
galactic giants
The star with the largest radius is probably UY Scuti, a bright variable supergiant in the constellation Scutum. Located 9500 light-years from Earth and made of hydrogen, helium and other heavier elements, almost the composition of our Sun, this star in radius bypasses it in 1708 (plus or minus 192) times.
The circumference of the star is about 7.5 billion kilometers. You would have to fly a plane for 950 years to completely circle it - and even light would take six hours and 55 minutes. If we replaced our Sun with this, its surface would be somewhere between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Of course, the Earth would not exist then.
Considering its enormous size and a possible mass of 20-40 times the Sun's (2-8×10³¹kg), UY Scutum would have a density of 7×10⁻⁶ kg/m³. In other words, it is billions of times less than the density of water.
Basically, if you put this star in the largest water bath in the universe, it would theoretically float. Being a million times less dense than the Earth's atmosphere at room temperature, it would also hang in the air like a balloon - if, of course, there was enough space for it.
But if these incredible facts have already managed to surprise you, we haven't even started yet. UY Shield is certainly a big star, but far from being a heavyweight. The King of the Heavyweights is the star R136a1, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 165,000 light years away.
Massive attack
This star, a sphere of hydrogen, helium and heavier elements, is not much larger than the Sun, 35 times its radius, but it is 265 times more massive - which is remarkable, given that in 1.5 million years of its life it has already lost 55 solar masses.
The type of Wolf-Rayet stars is far from stable. They look like a blurry blue sphere without a clear surface, blowing incredibly powerful stellar winds. Such winds travel at 2,600 km/s, 65 times faster than the Juno probe, the fastest man-made object.
As a result, the star loses mass at a rate of 3.21×10¹⁸ kg/s, equivalent to Earth's loss in 22 days.
These space rock stars burn out quickly and die quickly. R136a1 radiates nine million times more energy than our Sun and would appear 94,000 times brighter than the Sun to our eyes if it took its place. In fact, it is the brightest star ever discovered.
its surface is over 53,000 degrees Celsius (), and such a star will live no more than two million years. Her death will be marked by a colossal supernova explosion, which will not even leave a black hole behind.
Of course, next to such giants, our Sun looks insignificant, but, again, it will also grow as it ages. In about seven and a half billion years, it will reach its maximum size and become a red giant, expanding so that the current orbit of the Earth will be inside the star.
And yet we found these stars by studying only a small fraction of the universe. What other miracles await us?
Astronomers never cease to delight us with new discoveries, finding more and more stars in the Universe. Some of them can be seen at night with the naked eye, just by looking at the night sky. In order to see others, the most powerful telescopes are required. What is the largest star in the universe? Where is it located and how is it different from its neighbors? We invite you to familiarize yourself with the rating of the largest stars that have already been discovered by astronomers in the universe.
AH Scorpio
This is a real red giant, which is located in the region of the constellation Scorpio at a distance of 12 thousand light years relative to our planet. Its radius exceeds the radius of the Sun by 1.5 thousand times.
KY Swan
This star, which is located in the constellation Cygnus, will have to fly from the Earth as much as 5 thousand light years. Comparing the radius of the planet with the Sun, we can say that its radius is equal to 1420 solar radii. But the mass of the planet is not so large - it is only 25 times heavier than our star. It could illuminate much more than the Sun, since the brightness of KY Cygnus exceeds the solar one by many millions of times, so it can quite win in the “Brightest” nomination.
VV Cephei A
This double is located in the constellation of the same name, the distance to which is about 5000 light years. It is recognized as one of the largest in its galaxy, second only to VY Canis Major. Estimating the radius along the equator of this star, we can say that it is equal to 1900 equatorial radii of our star.
VY Big Dog
If we consider the Milky Way, then it was this star that became its champion, with a radius exceeding the size of the Sun by more than 1540 times. According to astronomers, this star is very unstable and there is an assumption that over the next 100,000 years it will certainly explode, resulting in a gamma-ray burst that can destroy all life that is within 1-2 light years. As for the planet Earth, only a huge distance from our planet to VY Canis Major, which is about 4000 light years, can save it. Therefore, earthlings can be calm.
VX Sagittarius
Scientists note the pulsation of this variable star, as studies have proven a periodic change in its temperature and volume. And its pulsation can be compared with the beating of a human heart. The equatorial radius of VX Sagittarius is equal to 1520 solar. The star is located in the constellation of the same name, from which it got its name.
Westerland 1-26
The numerical value of the radius of this giant exceeds the solar one by 1540 times. From Earth to Westerland 1-26 is about 11,500 light years.
WOH G64
The star WOH G64 is called the red star. It can be found by exploring the constellation, which has the name Golden Fish, which is located in a galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our solar system is about 163,000 light-years away. Its radius is 1730 times greater than that of the Sun. According to research, the star will cease to exist, becoming a supernova. However, this will happen no earlier than in 10-20 thousand years. Although during this time a lot of things can change.
RW Cephei
This giant star has a red color and is located at a distance of more than 2700 light years from Earth. Its radius along the equator is 1636 times greater than the radius of the Sun.
NML Cygnus
The star acquired its name based on the name of the constellation, where it was discovered by astronomers. Its radius exceeds the solar one by 1650 times. A distance of 5300 light years separates us from NML Cygnus. Exploring the structure of the planet, scientists found sulfur oxide, hydrogen sulfide and other substances in it.
UY Shield
Scientists agreed that UY Shield is the largest in the entire universe. The record holder is located in the constellation with the same name at a distance of approximately 9.5 thousand light years from us. The star is very bright, but this is prevented by a huge amount of dust and gas around the planet.
Stars are huge balls of burning plasma. But, with the exception of the Sun, they look like tiny dots of light in the night sky. At the same time, our Sun is not the smallest or largest star. There are many much more massive and larger stars than the Sun. Some of them have evolved since their inception. Others grow as they "age".
To answer the question about what is the largest star in the universe, we "sorted" the stars according to such a feature as size. The equatorial radius of the Sun, which is 696,392 kilometers, was taken as the unit for measuring the stellar radius.
This celestial body, also known under a different name (HR 5171 A), belongs to the yellow hypergiants and is a double star. Its smaller "partner" HR 5171 B revolves around V766 Centauri in 1300 Earth days.
This star is located in the direction of the constellation Cepheus, about 5 thousand light years from Earth. A red hypergiant with a radius approximately equal to 1050-1900 solar radii is part of a binary star system. Its companion is the small blue star VV Cephei B, which revolves around its "big brother" in an elliptical orbit. The name of the star is given in honor of the largest of the pair, and now it is known as one of the largest double stars in the Milky Way.
To get to know this red supergiant from the constellation Scorpius, people would have to travel a distance of 7400 light years. The AH radius of Scorpio is 1411 times that of the sun.
7. VY Canis Major
Heated disputes among astronomers are associated with this star. According to estimates updated in 2012, its radius exceeds the radius of the Sun by 1420 times. However, according to the initial estimate of Robert Humphreys, the radius of VY Canis Majoris is 1800 - 2200 times greater than the solar one. The exact radius of the stellar giant has not yet been established. When you can find out about him for sure, the leader in the ranking of the biggest stars may change.
The radius of this hypergiant star is at least 1420 times the radius of the Sun, and the brightness level is as much as 300,000 times higher than the sun. It is located in the constellation Cygnus, at a distance of about 5 thousand light years from Earth.
This star belongs to the class of hypergiants - the most powerful and bright, the heaviest, and at the same time the rarest and shortest-lived supergiants. Its radius exceeds the solar one by about 1520 times.
VX Sagittarius is located in the constellation Cepheus, 9000 light years from our planet. It is so huge that it could easily cover the orbital path of Saturn if it were in place of the Sun. The star's red color indicates that its temperature range is between 3,000 and 4,000 Kelvin. Hotter stars are yellow in color, while very hot ones take on a bluish tint.
At a distance of 11,500 light-years from our planet, in the star cluster Westerland 1, is the fourth largest star in the galaxy. In terms of luminosity, it is 380 thousand times greater than the Sun, and being placed in the place of our yellow star with its photosphere, it would absorb the orbit of Jupiter. The photosphere is where a star becomes transparent to light, and where photons—that is, light particles—can disappear. The photosphere allows astronomers to approximate the "edges" of a star.
Here is another star known to science from the constellation Cepheus was included in the list of the largest. The radius of this red supergiant is about 1600 solar radii. If RW Cephei were in place of the Sun, the radiating layer of its stellar atmosphere (photosphere) would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
The second largest star in space is located in the constellation Dorado, 160 thousand light years from our world. Despite the fact that this star has lost up to a third of its original mass due to the stellar wind, a long-term thick annular layer of gas and dust torus has formed around it. The "dimensions" of the star have been adjusted to account for all the mass present in its ring. It is expected to go supernova in a couple of thousand years.
1. UY Scuti - the largest star in the universe
At a distance of 9500 light years from the Sun, in the constellation of the Shield, is the largest star in the world. Its approximate size is almost eight astronomical units, where one astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This is enough to propagate the UY Scutum photosphere into the orbit of Jupiter.
UY Shield is so gigantic and so bright that you can see it with powerful binoculars on a dark night. It is visible along the stars of the Milky Way, and looks like a reddish star with a faint spot.
Exploring a supergiant
In the summer of 2012, astronomers, using the Very Large Telescope complex located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, measured the parameters of three red supergiants near the region of the Galactic center. The objects of study were UY Shield, AH Scorpio and KW Sagittarius.
Scientists have determined that all three stars are 1,000 times larger and more than 100,000 times brighter than the Sun. They also discovered that UY Scutum is the largest, brightest of the three stars. From the radius and luminosity, the effective temperature was obtained - 3665 ± 134 K.
Mass and dimensions of the UY Shield compared to the Sun
The exact mass of this star is unknown, primarily because it has no visible companion star, thanks to which its mass can be measured using the study of gravitational interference. According to stellar evolutionary models, the initial mass of a star (at its formation) corresponding to a red supergiant stage, such as that of UY Scuti, would be around 25M☉ (perhaps up to 40M☉ for a non-rotating star) and constantly burning up. Presumably, its current mass is 7-10 M☉ and continues to decrease. UY Scuti is not only the largest, but also the fastest burning star known to science today.
The mass of UY Scutum is just over 30 times the mass of our Sun, which doesn't even come close to the top of the list of most massive stars. This honor belongs to the star R136a1, which is 265 times the mass of the Sun, but only 30 times the radius of the Sun in radius.
The mass and physical dimensions do not always correlate for celestial bodies, especially for giant stars. Thus, although UY Scutum is only 30 times more massive than the Sun, it has a radius somewhere in the region of 1700 times the radius of our daylight. The error of this measurement is about 192 solar radii.
Is life possible near UY Scuti
A habitable zone or an orbital zone with the highest probability of life is a complex thing, the possibility of which depends on several factors. The planet on which life originated should not be too far or too close to the star. According to astronomers' calculations, the habitable zone around UY Scutum will be between 700 and 1300 astronomical units (AU). It's an insanely long distance. The number in kilometers is simply incomprehensible - it is about 149,597,870,700 km. For comparison: the habitable zone in the solar system is located at a distance of 0.95 to 1.37 AU from the Sun.
If a living planet is at a safe distance, say 923 astronomical units from UY Scutum, a year on it would be 9612 Earth years. That's almost 2500 years of winter! And 2500 years of summer. That is, many generations will change who know only one season.
UY Scutum may indeed have a planetary system in this zone, but if it does, it won't exist for very long. You, the reader, may reasonably ask, “Why?” Because the future of the star is too bright.
What awaits the star in the future
Based on current models of stellar evolution, scientists speculate that UY Scutum began to fuse helium into a shell around the core. As helium runs out, the star will begin to fuse heavier elements such as lithium, carbon, oxygen, neon, and silicon. The location of the star in the depths of the Milky Way suggests that it is rich in metal. After the fusion of heavy elements, its core will begin to produce iron, upsetting the balance of gravity and radiation, which will lead to the appearance of a supernova. This will happen in a million years - not very long by astronomical standards, but humanity has time to prepare for such an enchanting spectacle.
After a supernova, UY Scuti will most likely turn into a yellow hypergiant, a blue variable star, or even a Wolf-Rayet star with a very high temperature and luminosity. In the latter case, it will “give birth” to many new stars after its supernova.
Life on our entire planet depends on the Sun, and sometimes we do not realize that in fact there are many other galaxies in the Universe and within them. And our almighty Sun is just a small star among billions of other luminaries. Our article will tell you the name of the largest star in the world, which can still be covered by the human mind. Perhaps, beyond its borders, in hitherto unexplored worlds, there are even more gigantic stars of immense size ...
Measure stars in suns
Before talking about the name of the largest star, we clarify that the size of stars is usually measured in solar radii, its size is 696,392 kilometers. Many of the stars in our galaxy are larger than the Sun in many ways. Most of them belong to the class of red supergiants - large massive stars with a dense hot core and a sparse shell. Their temperature is noticeably lower than the temperature of blue and - 8000-30,000 K (on the Kelvin scale) and 2000-5000 K, respectively. Red stars are called cold, although in fact their temperature is slightly less than the maximum in the core of our Earth (6000 K).
Most celestial objects do not have constant parameters (including size), but rather are in constant change. Such stars are called variable - their sizes change regularly. This can happen for various reasons. Some variable stars are in fact a system of several bodies exchanging masses, others are pulsating due to internal physical processes, shrinking and growing again.
What is the name of the largest star in the universe?
At a distance of 9.5 thousand light years from the Sun, it appeared on star maps at the end of the 17th century, thanks to the Polish astronomer Jan Hevelius. And two hundred years later, German astronomers from the Bonn Observatory added the star UY Shield (U-Ygrek) to the catalog. And already in our time, in 2012, it was found that UY Scuti is the largest of the known stars within the studied Universe.
The radius of the UY Scutum is about 1700 times greater than the radius of the Sun. This red hypergiant is a variable star, which means that its dimensions can reach even larger values. During periods of maximum expansion, the radius of the UY Shield is 1900 solar radii. The volume of this star can be compared with a sphere, the radius of which would be the distance from the center of the solar system to Jupiter.
Giants of Space: what are the names of the largest stars
In the neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, is the second largest star within the studied space. Its name cannot be called particularly memorable - WOH G64, but you can take note that it is located in the constellation Dorado, a constant visible in the southern hemisphere. In size, it is slightly smaller than UY Scutum - about 1500 solar radii. But it has an interesting shape - the accumulation of a rarefied shell around the nucleus forms a spherical shape, but rather resembles a donut or bagel. Scientifically, this shape is called a torus.
According to another version, what is the name of the largest star after UY Shield, the leader is VY Canis Major. It is believed that its radius is equal to 1420 solar. But the surface of VY Canis Majoris is too rarefied - the Earth's atmosphere exceeds it in density by several thousand times. Due to the difficulty in determining what is the actual surface of the star, and what is already its accompanying shell, scientists still cannot come to a final conclusion regarding the size of VY Canis Major.
The heaviest stars
If we consider not the radius, but the mass of the celestial body, then the largest star is called as a set of letters and numbers in encryption - R136a1. It is also located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, but it belongs to the type of blue stars. Its mass corresponds to 315 solar masses. For comparison, the mass of the UY Shield is only 7-10 solar masses.
Another massive formation is called Eta Carinae, a double giant star in the 19th century, as a result of an outburst around this system, a nebula formed, named Homunculus because of its strange shape. The mass of Eta Carina is 150-250 solar masses.
The biggest stars in the night sky
The giant stars hiding in the depths of space are inaccessible to the eye of a simple layman - most often they can only be seen through a telescope. At night, in the starry sky, the brightest and closest objects to the Earth will seem large to us - be it stars or planets.
What is the name of the largest star in the sky and at the same time the brightest? This is Sirius, which is one of the closest stars to the Earth. In fact, it is not much larger than the Sun in size and mass - only one and a half to two times. But its brightness is really much greater - 22 times greater than that of the Sun.
Another bright and therefore seemingly large object in the night sky is actually not a star, but a planet. We are talking about Venus, the brightness of which in many respects exceeds the rest of the stars. Its brilliance is visible closer to sunrise or some time after sunset.
