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What is the biggest star in the universe?

12/31/2015

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Victor is a grade 6 student from Calgary and he asked...

What is the biggest star in the universe?

The biggest star that astronomers know about is called VY Canis Majoris. It's a red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major - the Big Dog. This star is 30 - 40 times the mass of the Sun and 300 000 times more luminous. It has entered the final stages of its life and has expanded to a tremendous size. If this star was located in our Solar System, at the spot that is occupied by the Sun, it would extend all the way out to encompass the orbit of Jupiter!
​
Picture
The Sun and Earth's orbit compared to the star VY Canis Majoris.
Picture
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    About Me

    This blog is written by James Durbano. Currently, I am the Director of the Big Sky Observatory and I'm also the owner and operator of the awesome AstroDome Planetarium.

    ​I've been keeping an eye on the sky for more than 30 years and during this time, I've shared many wonderful celestial sights with folks, both young and not so young.

    Taking photographs of the night sky is something that I enjoy doing. I'm always learning new things about my DSLR camera. Some of my photographs have even been published in SkyNews Magazine.


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