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Which is the largest star in the Milky Way?

Which is the largest star in the Milky Way?

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Asked by J. Lautner, Last updated: Apr 09, 2024

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3 Answers

Anthony Paul Bonadio

Anthony Paul Bonadio

Its kind of my job to give answers

Anthony Paul Bonadio
Anthony Paul Bonadio, Teacher, MCA, PhD, Toledo

Answered Jan 31, 2019

The VY Canis Majoris is the largest among all of the stars in the Milky Way. Found in the constellation Canis Major by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande, this red Hypergiant star is calculated to have a radius at least 1,800 that of the sun’s. Though not the most luminous among all known stars, it still ranks among the top 50.

VY Canis Majoris a.k.a. VY CMa is about 4,900 light years from the Earth. This value, however, is just a rough estimate because it is too far for parallax to be used. Parallax is the most common method for measuring star distances.

Being a semi regular variable star, VY Canis Majoris exhibits periodic light changes, and this moment lasts for about 2,200 days.

Lalande recorded VY CMa on March 7, 1801, listing it as a 7th magnitude star. Apparent magnitude is a unit of measurement for the brightness of a star as observed from Earth. The greater a star’s magnitude, the less bright it is.

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A. Cook

A. Cook

Find happiness in writing new things.

A. Cook
A. Cook, English Professor, M.A, Ph.D, Kentucky

Answered Jan 30, 2019

The VY Canis Majoris is the largest among all of the stars in the Milky Way. Found in the constellation Canis Major by the French astronomer Jerome Lalande, this red Hypergiant star is calculated to have a radius at least 1,800 that of the sun’s. Though not the most luminous among all known stars, it still ranks among the top 50.

VY Canis Majoris a.k.a. VY CMa is about 4,900 light years from the Earth. This value, however, is just a rough estimate because it is too far for parallax to be used. Parallax is the most common method for measuring star distances.

Being a semi regular variable star, VY Canis Majoris exhibits periodic light changes, and this moment lasts for about 2,200 days.

Lalande recorded VY CMa on March 7, 1801, listing it as a 7th magnitude star. Apparent magnitude is a unit of measurement for the brightness of a star as observed from Earth. The greater a star’s magnitude, the less bright it is.

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C. Marcus

C. Marcus

C. Marcus
C. Marcus, Content Developer, Washington

Answered Dec 03, 2018

Most people are fascinated with stars. Some like stars because of their appearance while there are also others that enjoy stars because of the way that they are made. Most people grow up believing that the sun has to be the biggest star in the solar system but this is not true.

The sun is actually considered to be a medium-sized star. There are a lot of other stars that are far bigger. The Pistol Star is known to be a very bright and big star. It is 100 times bigger as compared to the sun. There is also another hypergiant star that has gotten the attention of people so far, the VY Canis Majoris.

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