UY Scuti, a red supergiant star, currently holds the title of the largest known star in the observable universe by volume. Located in the constellation Scutum, it lies approximately 9,500 light-years away from Earth, close to the Milky Way’s core. With an estimated radius about 1,700 times that of our Sun, UY Scuti dwarfs most other celestial bodies. If placed at the center of our solar system, its outer edges would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter, illustrating its sheer size. However, due to the star's variable nature, its exact dimensions fluctuate over time.
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00:00Oh! Sun is so big!
00:04Yes, little kitty. But let me tell you..
00:07..our sun is not the largest star in the galaxy.
00:12Kidding!
00:16Well, in that case, let me take you and our lovely audience..
00:20..on a space tour to explore the little star.
00:24Well, in that case, let me take you and our lovely audience..
00:27..on a space tour to explore the largest twinkling stars..
00:31..in the Milky Way.
00:33Zoom in!
00:35Stars, as we have already learned so much about them..
00:39..in our previous videos.
00:41Please check them out afterwards.
00:43The links are provided in the description below.
00:48So, let's start with our very own sun..
00:51..aka a yellow dwarf star to compare with.
00:56It has a diameter of 865,370 miles..
01:04..making it the largest object in our solar system.
01:08It is so big that more than a million Earths could fit inside it.
01:14But you'll be surprised to know that the next star..
01:18..a red supergiant star called Antares..
01:22..located in the Scorpion constellation..
01:25..is estimated to be around 700 times the sun's diameter.
01:32Yes, it is large enough to engulf the orbit of Mars..
01:37..if the solar system was centered on it.
01:41But wait, this is just the beginning..
01:44..and let's move to the Orion constellation.
01:48Situated around 643 light years away from the Earth..
01:54..to witness a star named Betelgeuse.
01:58It is a red supergiant..
02:01..roughly 950 times as large as the sun..
02:06..and about 14,000 times brighter.
02:12Following this, let's move 4,900 light years away from Earth..
02:17..in the Cepheus constellation..
02:20..to witness VB Cephei..
02:23..which is around 1,050 times larger than the sun..
02:29..and Mu Cephei, a cool red supergiant..
02:34..about 1,260 times bigger than the sun..
02:39..which can be visible to the naked eye.
02:42Now let's travel to the Cygnus constellation..
02:46..located around 5,000 light years away from the Earth..
02:52..and look at KY Cygni..
02:55..a red supergiant of spectral class M3.5 La..
03:01..that ranges from 1,420 to 2,850 times larger than the sun.
03:11Following that, we have V354 Cephei..
03:16..situated in our Milky Way galaxy..
03:19..but is 9,000 light years away from the Earth..
03:24..and is around 1,520 times larger than our sun.
03:31The one larger than V354 Cephei is RW Cephei..
03:37..which is also located in the Cepheus constellation.
03:40This hypergiant variable star is about 1,535 times larger than the sun.
03:50Now, the time has come to meet the second largest star..
03:56..in the Milky Way galaxy..
03:58..and that is VY Canis Majoris..
04:03..located around 4,892 light years away from the Earth.
04:09This star is extremely rich in Oxygen..
04:13..and is 1,420 times larger than the sun.
04:18It's so large that its light takes about 8 hours..
04:23..to travel around its own equator.
04:27Isn't it fascinating, my friends?
04:30Indeed it is, but not as much as the largest star..
04:34..located right in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
04:39The Ui Scuti.
04:41Yes, that's because it is not only the largest star in our galaxy..
04:47..but one of the largest stars found in the entire observed universe..
04:53..after Stephenson 2-18.
04:58The Ui Scuti is estimated to be around 1,700 times larger than our yellow dwarf sun..
05:06..which comes across as massive 1.1883 billion kilometers in size.
05:15Not only that, it is about 340,000 times more luminous than our sun..
05:23..because of which it can be clearly seen without a telescope from the Earth..
05:30..despite being 5,219 light years away from us.
05:36It is so big, we could fit 489 trillion Earths into the volume of this star.
05:46Put another way, if you replaced our sun with Ui Scuti..
05:52..Saturn would take the place of Mercury as the closest planet to the sun..
05:58..and everything else would be engulfed by this hyper giant star.
06:03Now that's big, really big!
06:08Trivia Time!
06:11Did you know the Ui Scuti was discovered by German astronomers..
06:16..at the Pond Observatory in 1860?
06:20Also, it is believed that Ui Scuti has begun to fuse helium..
06:27..and will eventually go supernova.
06:30And what is that?
06:32To know about it, please check our video on the same topic.
06:37Hope you learnt something fascinating today.
06:41Until next time, it's me Dr. Binocs, Zooming out!
06:48Sir, too small, let's replace it.
06:53Ah, never mind.