• Question: what is the biggest star in milky way?

    Asked by pranavsasquatch123 to Alessandro, Angela, Claudia, Marina, Phil on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Claudia Krehl

      Claudia Krehl answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      I had to look this one up. And the winner is:

      VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa), which is a red Hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. With a size of 2600 solar radii, it is the largest known star and also one of the most luminous known. It is located about 1.5 kiloparsecs (4.6×1016 km) or about 4,900 light years away from Earth.

    • Photo: Phillip Wilkinson

      Phillip Wilkinson answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Hi!

      Claudia is right! Just wanted to share this video which compares all the biggest stars to the Earth and Sun. Really puts things in perspective.

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