The Sun is not the largest star in the Universe. Compared to other stars, it can even be called small. But on the scale of our planet, the Sun is truly huge. Its diameter is 1.39 million km, it contains 99.86% of all matter in the Solar System, and inside the star you can place a million planets like our Earth.
The one and only for the inhabitants of the Earth, the Sun is just one of the billions of billions of stars located in our Milky Way galaxy, and beyond it - in the endless Universe. Some of these stars are really huge: they are clearly visible in electromagnetic range and have such a significant gravitational effect on nearby celestial bodies that we can detect them even if they are millions of light years away from our planet. Their sizes are so large that a person is simply unable to imagine such a gigantic object, so they are measured not in kilometers, but in solar radii and solar mass. One solar radius is 696,342 km, and one solar mass is approximately 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
Stars that stand out significantly from others due to their mass and size are classified as hypergiants. Among the many hypergiants recorded in the vast expanses of the universe, three of them can be particularly highlighted.
R136a1
The largest star will not always be the heaviest, and conversely, the heaviest star does not have to be the largest. This is easily proven by a star with the beautiful name R136a1. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud at a distance of 165,000 light years from Earth, its mass is 265 solar masses, which is an absolute record for this moment, while its radius is “only” 31 solar radii. The huge fuel reserves inside this hypergiant and its extremely high density of matter allow R136a1 to emit 10 million times more light than the Sun, making it the brightest and most powerful star discovered to date. Scientists suggest that at the beginning of its life this star could reach 320 solar masses, however, stellar matter in the atmosphere of R136a1 accelerates more than the second escape velocity and overcomes the gravity of the given celestial body, which generates a strong stellar wind, i.e. the outflow of stellar matter into interstellar space with a rapid loss of its mass.
UY Scuti will not amaze you with its mass, which is 10 solar radii, but you will be surprised by its colossal size - about 1500 solar radii. The distance to UY Scuti is 9500 light years, and at such a distance it is difficult to say the exact radius of the star, but astronomers suggest that during pulsations it can increase to 2000 solar radii! If such a giant were placed in the center of the solar system, it would absorb all of space, including the orbit of Jupiter along with the planet itself. The volume of this hypergiant is 5 billion times greater than the volume of the Sun.
UY Scutum in the constellation Scutum | UY Scuti is located at a distance of almost ten thousand light years from the Solar System, but due to the fact that the star is one of the brightest among those discovered, it can be easily seen from Earth with a regular amateur telescope, and in particularly favorable conditions with the naked eye. By the way, if UY Scuti were not surrounded by a large cloud of dust, then this star would be the fifth brightest object in the night sky, whereas now it is the eleventh.
NML Swan
The star NML Cygni is a real record holder with a radius equal to 1650 solar radii. During pulsations of a star, the radius can reach about 2700 solar radii! If you place this hypergiant at the center of the solar system, its photosphere will extend far beyond the orbit of Jupiter, covering half the distance to Saturn.
Photo of the group of stars Cygnus OB2 | source The star NML Cygnus, located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 5300 light years from Earth, is the largest star currently known to astronomy. However, we can say with confidence that further space exploration will bring new discoveries and records.
Today you will learn about the most unusual stars. It is estimated that there are about 100 billion galaxies in the Universe and about 100 billion stars in each galaxy. With so many stars, there are bound to be some strange ones among them. Many of the sparkling, burning balls of gas are quite similar to each other, but some stand out for their strange size, weight and behavior. Using modern telescopes, scientists continue to study these stars to better understand them and the Universe, but mysteries still remain. Curious to know about the strangest stars? Here are the 25 most unusual stars in the Universe.
25. UY Scuti
Considered a supergiant star, UY Scuti is so large that it could engulf our star, half of our neighboring planets, and virtually our entire solar system. Its radius is approximately 1700 times the radius of the Sun.
24. Star of Methuselah
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The Star of Methuselah, also named HD 140283, truly lives up to its name. Some believe it is 16 billion years old, which is problematic because Big Bang happened only 13.8 billion years ago. Astronomers have tried to use more advanced age methods to better date the star, but still believe it is at least 14 billion years old.
23. Torna-Zhitkova object
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The existence of this object was originally proposed theoretically by Kip Thorne and Anna Zytkow; it consists of two stars, a neutron and a red supergiant, combined into one star. A potential candidate for this object has been named HV 2112.
22.R136a1 
Photo: flickr
Although UY Scuti is the largest star known to man, R136a1 is definitely one of the heaviest in the Universe. Its mass is 265 times greater than the mass of our Sun. What makes it strange is that we don't know exactly how it was formed. The main theory is that it was formed by the merger of several stars.
21.PSR B1257+12
Photo: en.wikipedia.org
Most of the exoplanets in PSR B1257+12's solar system are dead and bathed in deadly radiation from their old star. Amazing fact about their star is a zombie star or pulsar that has died but the core still remains. The radiation emanating from it makes this solar system no man's land.
20.SAO 206462
Photo: flickr
Comprised of two spiral arms spanning 14 million miles across, SAO 206462 is certainly a strange and unique star in the universe. While some galaxies are known to have arms, stars typically do not. Scientists believe that this star is in the process of creating planets.
19. 2MASS J0523-1403
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
2MASS J0523-1403 may be the smallest known star in the Universe, and it lies just 40 light-years away. Because it is small in size and mass, scientists believe it may be 12 trillion years old.
18. Heavy metal subdwarfs
Photo: ommons.wikimedia.org
Recently, astronomers discovered a pair of stars with large amounts of lead in their atmosphere, which creates thick and heavy clouds around the star. They're called HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738, and they're located 800 and 1000 light-years away respectively, but you could just call them heavy metal subdwarfs. Scientists are still not sure how they form.
17. RX J1856.5-3754
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
From the moment they are born, neutron stars begin to continuously lose energy and cool down. It is therefore unusual that a 100,000-year-old neutron star such as RX J1856.5-3754 could be so hot and show no signs of activity. Scientists believe interstellar material is held tightly gravitational field star, resulting in enough energy to heat the star.
16. KIC 8462852
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The star system KIC 8462852 has received intense attention and interest from SETI and astronomers for its unusual behavior recently. Sometimes it dims by 20 percent, which could mean something is orbiting around it. Of course, this led some to the conclusion that these were aliens, but another explanation is the debris of a comet that entered the same orbit with the star.
15. Vega
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Vega is the fifth most bright Star in the night sky, but that’s not what makes it strange at all. Its high rotation speed of 960,600 km per hour gives it an egg shape, rather than a spherical shape like our Sun. Temperature variations are also observed, with more cold temperature at the equator.
14. SGR 0418+5729
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A magnet located 6,500 light-years from Earth, SGR 0418+5729 has the strongest magnetic field in the Universe. The strange thing about it is that it does not correspond to the image of traditional magnetars with a surface magnetic field, like ordinary neutron stars.
13. Kepler-47
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
In the constellation Cygnus, 4,900 light-years from Earth, astronomers have discovered for the first time a pair of planets orbiting two stars. Known as the Kelper-47 system, the orbiting stars eclipse each other every 7.5 days. One star is roughly the size of our Sun, but only 84 percent as bright. The discovery proves that there may be more than one planet in the stressed orbit of a binary star system.
12. La Superba
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La Superba is another massive star located 800 light years away. It is about 3 times heavier than our Sun and the size of four astronomical units. It is so bright that it can be observed from Earth with the naked eye.
11. MY Camelopardalis
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
MY Camelopardalis was thought to be a single bright star, but it was later discovered that the two stars are so close that they practically touch each other. Two stars slowly join together to form one star. Nobody knows when they will completely merge.
10.PSR J1719-1438b
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Technically, PSR J1719-1438b is not a star, but it once was. While it was still a star, its outer layers were sucked out by another star, turning it into a small planet. What's even more surprising about this former star, what is now a giant diamond planet, five times the size of Earth.
9. OGLE TR-122b
Photo: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
The average star usually makes the other planets look like pebbles, but OGLE TR-122b is about the same size as Jupiter. That's right, this is the smallest star in the Universe. Scientists believe it originated as a stellar dwarf several billion years ago, marking the first time a star the size of a planet has been discovered.
8. L1448 IRS3B
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Astronomers discovered the three-star system L1448 IRS3B as it began to form. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile, they observed two young stars orbiting a much older star. They believe that these two young stars were created as a result of a nuclear reaction with gas orbiting the star.
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Mira, also known as Omicron Ceti, is 420 light-years away and is quite strange due to its constantly fluctuating brightness. Scientists consider it a dying star located on recent years own life. Even more amazingly, it moves through space at a speed of 130 km per second and has a tail that stretches several light years.
6. Fomalhaut-C
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
If you thought the two-star system was cool, then you might want to see the Fomalhaut-C. This is a three-star system just 25 light-years from Earth. Although systems with triple stars are not entirely unique, this one is so because the location of the stars is far away, and not close to each other - an anomaly. The star Fomalhaut-C is particularly far away from A and B.
5. Swift J1644+57
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The black hole's appetite is indiscriminate. In the case of Swift J1644+57, a dormant black hole woke up and devoured the star. Scientists made this discovery in 2011 using X-ray and radio waves. It took 3.9 billion light years for the light to reach Earth.
4.PSR J1841-0500
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Known for their regular and constantly pulsating glow, they are rapidly rotating stars that rarely turn off. But PSR J1841-0500 surprised scientists by only doing this for 580 days. Scientists believe that studying this star will help them understand how pulsars work.
3.PSR J1748-2446
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The strangest thing about PSR J1748-2446 is that it is the fastest spinning object in the Universe. It has a density 50 trillion times that of lead. To top it all off, its magnetic field is a trillion times stronger than that of our Sun. In short, this is an insanely overactive star.
2. SDSS J090745.0+024507
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
SDSS J090745.0+024507 is a ridiculously long name for a runaway star. With the help of a supermassive black hole, the star has been knocked out of its orbit and is moving fast enough to escape the Milky Way. Let's hope that none of these stars rush towards us.
1. Magnetar SGR 1806-20
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Magnetar SGR 1806-20 is a terrifying force that exists in our Universe. Astronomers detected a bright flash 50,000 light-years away that was so powerful it bounced off the Moon and illuminated Earth's atmosphere for ten seconds. Solar flare raised questions among scientists about whether something like this could lead to the extinction of all life on Earth.
The seemingly inconspicuous UY Shield
In terms of stars, modern astrophysics seems to be reliving its infancy. Star observations provide more questions than answers. Therefore, when asking which star is the largest in the Universe, you need to be immediately prepared for answering questions. Are you asking about the largest star known to science, or about what limits science limits a star? As is usually the case, in both cases you will not get a clear answer. The most likely candidate for the biggest star quite equally shares the palm with its “neighbors.” How much smaller it may be than the real “king of the star” also remains open.
Comparison of the sizes of the Sun and the star UY Scuti. The Sun is an almost invisible pixel to the left of UY Scutum.
With some reservations, the supergiant UY Scuti can be called the largest star observed today. Why “with reservation” will be stated below. UY Scuti is 9,500 light-years away from us and is observed as a faint variable star, visible in a small telescope. According to astronomers, its radius exceeds 1,700 solar radii, and during the pulsation period this size can increase to as much as 2,000.
It turns out, place such a star in the place of the Sun, the current orbits of the planet terrestrial group would find themselves in the depths of a supergiant, and the boundaries of its photosphere would at times abut the orbit. If we imagine our Earth as a grain of buckwheat, and the Sun as a watermelon, then the diameter of the UY Shield will be comparable to the height of the Ostankino TV tower.
To fly around such a star at the speed of light it will take as much as 7-8 hours. Let us remember that the light emitted by the Sun reaches our planet in just 8 minutes. If you fly at the same speed as it makes one revolution around the Earth in an hour and a half, then the flight around UY Scuti will last about 36 years. Now let’s imagine these scales, taking into account that the ISS flies 20 times faster than a bullet and tens of times faster than passenger airliners.
Mass and luminosity of UY Scuti
It is worth noting that such a monstrous size of the UY Shield is completely incomparable with its other parameters. This star is “only” 7-10 times more massive than the Sun. It turns out that the average density of this supergiant is almost a million times lower than the density of the air around us! For comparison, the density of the Sun is one and a half times the density of water, and a grain of matter even “weighs” millions of tons. Roughly speaking, the averaged matter of such a star is similar in density to a layer of atmosphere located at an altitude of about one hundred kilometers above sea level. This layer, also called the Karman line, is the conventional boundary between the earth's atmosphere and space. It turns out that the density of the UY Shield is only slightly short of the vacuum of space!
Also UY Scutum is not the brightest. With its own luminosity of 340,000 solar, it is tens of times dimmer than the brightest stars. A good example is the star R136, which, being the most massive of the currently known stars (265 solar masses), is almost nine million times brighter than the Sun. Moreover, the star is only 36 times larger than the Sun. It turns out that R136 is 25 times brighter and about the same number of times more massive than UY Scuti, despite the fact that it is 50 times smaller than the giant.
Physical parameters of UY Shield
Overall, UY Scuti is a pulsating variable red supergiant of spectral class M4Ia. That is, on the Hertzsprung-Russell spectrum-luminosity diagram, UY Scuti is located in the upper right corner.
At the moment, the star is approaching the final stages of its evolution. Like all supergiants, it began actively burning helium and some other heavier elements. According to modern models, in a matter of millions of years, UY Scuti will successively transform into a yellow supergiant, then into a bright blue variable or Wolf-Rayet star. The final stages of its evolution will be a supernova explosion, during which the star will shed its shell, most likely leaving behind neutron star.
Already now, UY Scuti is showing its activity in the form of semi-regular variability with an approximate pulsation period of 740 days. Considering that a star can change its radius from 1700 to 2000 solar radii, the speed of its expansion and contraction is comparable to the speed spaceships! Its mass loss is at an impressive rate of 58 million solar masses per year (or 19 Earth masses per year). This is almost one and a half Earth masses per month. Thus, being on the main sequence millions of years ago, UY Scuti could have had a mass of 25 to 40 solar masses.
Giants among the stars
Returning to the disclaimer stated above, we note that the primacy of the UY Shield as the largest of famous stars cannot be called unambiguous. The fact is that astronomers still cannot determine the distance to most stars with a sufficient degree of accuracy, and therefore estimate their sizes. In addition, large stars are usually very unstable (remember the pulsation of UY Scuti). Likewise, they have a rather vague structure. They may have a fairly extensive atmosphere, opaque shells of gas and dust, disks, or a large companion star (for example, VV Cephei, see below). It is impossible to say exactly where the boundary of such stars lies. After all, the established concept of the boundary of stars as the radius of their photosphere is already extremely arbitrary.
Therefore, this number can include about a dozen stars, which include NML Cygnus, VV Cephei A, VY Canis Major, WOH G64 and some others. All these stars are located in the vicinity of our galaxy (including its satellites) and are in many ways similar to each other. All of them are red supergiants or hypergiants (see below for the difference between super and hyper). Each of them will turn into a supernova in a few millions, or even thousands of years. They are also similar in size, lying in the range of 1400-2000 solar.
Each of these stars has its own peculiarity. So in UY Scutum this feature is the previously mentioned variability. WOH G64 has a toroidal gas-dust envelope. Extremely interesting is the double eclipsing variable star VV Cephei. It is a close system of two stars, consisting of the red hypergiant VV Cephei A and the blue main sequence star VV Cephei B. The centra of these stars are located from each other at some 17-34 . Considering that the radius of VV Cepheus B can reach 9 AU. (1900 solar radii), the stars are located at “arm’s length” from each other. Their tandem is so close that whole pieces of the hypergiant flow at enormous speeds onto the “little neighbor”, which is almost 200 times smaller than it.
Looking for a leader
Under such conditions, estimating the size of stars is already problematic. How can we talk about the size of a star if its atmosphere flows into another star, or smoothly turns into a disk of gas and dust? This is despite the fact that the star itself consists of very rarefied gas.
Moreover, all the largest stars are extremely unstable and short-lived. Such stars can live for a few millions, or even hundreds of thousands of years. Therefore, when observing a giant star in another galaxy, you can be sure that a neutron star is now pulsating in its place or a black hole is bending space, surrounded by the remnants of a supernova explosion. Even if such a star is thousands of light years away from us, one cannot be completely sure that it still exists or remains the same giant.
Let's add to this imperfection modern methods determining the distance to the stars and a number of unspecified problems. It turns out that even among a dozen known largest stars it is impossible to identify a specific leader and arrange them in order of increasing size. In this case, UY Shield was cited as the most likely candidate to lead the Big Ten. This does not mean at all that his leadership is undeniable and that, for example, NML Cygnus or VY Canis Majoris cannot be greater than her. That's why different sources the question of the largest known star can be answered differently. This speaks less of their incompetence than of the fact that science cannot give unambiguous answers even to such direct questions.
Largest in the Universe
If science does not undertake to single out the largest among the discovered stars, how can we talk about which star is the largest in the Universe? Scientists estimate that the number of stars, even within the observable Universe, is ten times greater than the number of grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. Of course, even the most powerful modern telescopes can see an unimaginably smaller portion of them. It will not help in the search for a “stellar leader” that the largest stars can stand out for their luminosity. Whatever their brightness, it will fade when observing distant galaxies. Moreover, as noted earlier, the brightest stars are not the largest (for example, R136).
Let us also remember that when observing a large star in a distant galaxy, we will actually see its “ghost”. Therefore, it is not easy to find the largest star in the Universe; searching for it will simply be pointless.
Hypergiants
If the largest star is practically impossible to find, maybe it’s worth developing it theoretically? That is, to find a certain limit after which the existence of a star can no longer be a star. However, even here modern science faces a problem. The modern theoretical model of evolution and physics of stars does not explain much of what actually exists and is observed in telescopes. An example of this is hypergiants.
Astronomers have repeatedly had to raise the bar for the limit of stellar mass. This limit was first introduced in 1924 by the English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington. Having obtained a cubic dependence of the luminosity of stars on their mass. Eddington realized that a star cannot accumulate mass indefinitely. The brightness increases faster than the mass, and this will sooner or later lead to a violation of hydrostatic equilibrium. The light pressure of increasing brightness will literally blow away the outer layers of the star. The limit calculated by Eddington was 65 solar masses. Subsequently, astrophysicists refined his calculations by adding unaccounted components and using powerful computers. So the current theoretical limit for the mass of stars is 150 solar masses. Now remember that R136a1 has a mass of 265 solar masses, which is almost twice the theoretical limit!
R136a1 is the most massive star currently known. In addition to it, several other stars have significant masses, the number of which in our galaxy can be counted on one hand. Such stars were called hypergiants. Note that R136a1 is significantly smaller than stars that, it would seem, should be lower in class - for example, the supergiant UY Scuti. This is because it is not the largest stars that are called hypergiants, but the most massive ones. For such stars, a separate class was created on the spectrum-luminosity diagram (O), located above the class of supergiants (Ia). The exact initial mass of a hypergiant has not been established, but, as a rule, their mass exceeds 100 solar masses. None of the Big Ten's biggest stars measure up to those limits.
Theoretical dead end
Modern science cannot explain the nature of the existence of stars whose mass exceeds 150 solar masses. This raises the question of how one can determine the theoretical limit on the size of stars if the radius of a star, unlike mass, is itself a vague concept.
Let us take into account the fact that it is not known exactly what the stars of the first generation were like, and what they will be like during the further evolution of the Universe. Changes in the composition and metallicity of stars can lead to radical changes in their structure. Astrophysicists have yet to comprehend the surprises that further observations and theoretical research will present to them. It is quite possible that UY Scuti may turn out to be a real crumb against the background of a hypothetical “king star” that shines somewhere or will shine in the farthest corners of our Universe.
The closest star to Earth, which we call the Sun, is far from the largest. Despite the fact that humanity has currently been able to explore only a small part of the Universe, there are exactly as many stars and other space objects as modern equipment allows us to record and study; it is already known for certain about the existence of much larger luminaries, in comparison with which the Sun looks like a cosmic object. speck of dust The ten largest stars are known to every person interested in astronomy.
Despite their remoteness, for the most part they are clearly visible in the night sky, because the powerful stream of light from them can travel vast distances. So, what are they - the largest stars known to man Universe?
Supergiant of the constellation Scorpio Antares
Starting the story about the largest stars, it is necessary to pay attention to the supergiant from the constellation Scorpio - the red star has a radius approximately equal to 1200-1500, or a little more, solar radii. More precise data is not yet available. The distance of this object from the Earth is approximately 12 thousand light. years. The object is visible in the sky with the naked eye.
Bright star of the constellation Cygnus
KY Swan is also the leader in size among the known to modern humanity stars The distance from this object to Earth is approximately 5 thousand light years. The star has its own oddities - its mass exceeds that of the Sun only 25 times, and its radius at the equator is 1420 solar. This object emits a million times more light than the Sun, which also makes it very noticeable on the horizon.
Myriads of stars dot the night sky. And to a person from Earth they seem exactly the same. Well, in some parts of the sky, for example, in the Milky Way region, stars merge into luminous streams.
This is because there are an incredibly large number of stars in the Universe.
In fact, there are so many of them that even the knowledge of modern researchers, which was obtained using the latest equipment (by the way, it allows you to look into the territory of space 9 billion light years away) is not enough.
There are currently approximately 50 billion stars in the depths of space. And every day the figure is only growing, because scientists do not get tired of exploring space and making new discoveries.
Brighter than the Sun
All stars in the Universe have different diameters. And even our Sun is not the largest star, nor is it small. It has a diameter of 1,391,000 kilometers. There are heavier stars in the Universe; they are called hypergiants. For quite a long time, VY, which is located in the constellation Canis Major, was considered the largest star. Not so long ago, the radius of the star was clarified - and approximately ranges from 1300 to 1540 solar radii. The diameter of this supergiant is about 2 billion kilometers. VY is located 5 thousand light years from the Solar System.
Scientists have calculated, to imagine how gigantic the size is, one revolution around a hypergiant star will take 1200 years, and then if you fly at a speed of 800 kilometers per hour. Or, if you reduce the Earth to 1 centimeter and also proportionally reduce VY, then the size of the latter will be 2.2 kilometers.
The mass of this star is not that impressive. VY is only 40 times heavier than the Sun. This happened because the density of the gases inside it is incredibly low. Well, one can only admire the brightness of the star. It shines 500 thousand times stronger than our heavenly body.
The first observations of VY that were recorded are in the star catalog of Joseph Jérôme de Lalande. The information dates back to March 7, 1801. Scientists have indicated that VY is a seventh magnitude star.
But in 1847, information appeared that VY has a crimson hue. In the nineteenth century, researchers discovered that the star had at least six discrete components, making it likely a multiple star. But it has now become clear that the discrete components are nothing more than bright areas of the nebula that surrounds the hypergiant. Visual observations in 1957 and high-quality images in 1998 showed that VY lacks a companion star.
However, by our time, the largest star in the universe has already lost more than half of its mass. That is, the star is aging and its hydrogen fuel is already running out. The outer part of VY has become larger due to the fact that gravity can no longer prevent weight loss. Scientists say that when a star runs out of fuel, it will likely explode into a supernova and become a neutron star or black hole. According to observations, the star has been losing its brightness since 1850.
Lost Leadership
However, scientists do not stop studying the Universe even for a minute. Therefore, this record was broken. Astronomers have found an even larger star in the vastness of space. The discovery was made by a group of British scientists led by Paul Crowther at the end of the summer of 2010.
Researchers studied the Large Magellanic Cloud and found the star R136a1. Helped make an incredible discovery space telescope NASA Hubble.
The giant is 256 times more massive than our Sun. But R136a1 is ten million times brighter than the celestial body. Such fantastic figures became a revelation for scientists, because it was believed that stars that exceed the mass of the Sun by more than 150 times did not exist.
And while continuing to explore clusters of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, experts have found several more stars that have exceeded this threshold. Well, R136a1 turned out to be a real record holder. The most interesting thing is that throughout their existence, stars lose their mass. At least, such statements are made by scientists. And R136a1 has now lost one fifth of its original mass. According to calculations, it was equal to 320 solar masses.
By the way, according to experts’ calculations, if such a star were imagined in our Galaxy, it would be brighter than the Sun as much as the Sun is brighter than the Moon.
Record-breaking stars
But the brightest stars in the visible sky are Rigel and Deneb from the constellations Orion and Cygnus, respectively. Each shines 55 thousand times and 72.5 thousand times brighter than the Sun. These luminaries are 1600 and 820 light years away from us.
Another bright star from the Orion constellation is the star Betelgeuse. It is the third most luminous. She's brighter sunlight the intensity of light emission is 22 thousand times. By the way, the most bright stars are collected in Orion, although their brightness changes periodically.
But the brightest among the stars closest to Earth is Sirius from the constellation Canis Major. It shines only 23.5 times brighter than our Sun. And the distance to this star is 8.6 light years. In the same constellation there is another bright star - Adara. This star is as luminous as 8,700 Suns combined at a distance of 650 light years. well and polar Star, which many incorrectly consider the brightest visible star, shines 6 thousand times brighter than the Sun. Polaris is at the tip Ursa Minor and is 780 light years away from Earth.
If instead of the Sun there were other stars and planets
It is noteworthy that astronomers single out the zodiac constellation Taurus from the total mass. It contains an unusual star, which is distinguished by its supergiant density and rather small spherical size. According to astrophysicists, it mainly consists of fast neutrons, which fly apart. It was once the brightest star in the Universe.
Star R136a1 and the Sun
Scientists say blue stars have great luminosity. The brightest known is UW SMa. It is 860 thousand times brighter than our heavenly body. But this figure drops rapidly as the brightness of stars changes over time. For example, according to the chronicle, which is dated July 4, 1054, the brightest star was in the constellation Taurus; it could be seen in the sky with the naked eye even in the middle of the day. But over time, the star began to dim and after a while disappeared altogether. And in the place where it shone, a nebula formed that looked like a crab. This is how the name Crab Nebula came about. It appeared after a supernova explosion. By the way, modern scientists in the center of this nebula have found a powerful source of radio emission, in other words, a pulsar. This is the remnant of that bright supernova that was described in the ancient chronicle.
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