Much of this material has taken the shape of a cloud of dust and gas around the star. It is speculated that the hypergiant has already lost more than half of its mass. The hypergiant is around VY Canis Majoris is cooler than our sun, with an estimated surface temperature of around 3.
Our Sun has around 5. VY Canis Majoris has an average density of 5. It is bright enough to be observed with a pair of regular binoculars. Consecuentely, VY Canis Majoris is the biggest star of the constellation. The Canis Major constellation represents the big hunter dog of Orion, the celestial hunter. It is the home of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. VY Canis Majoris is big enough to explode as a hypernova or superluminous nova.
Hypernovas produce considerably higher amounts of energy than regular supernovas. That appears to have happened at least four times in the last years. Each time, the star grew much fainter. This phase might not last long. Soon, VY Canis Majoris might get smaller and hotter. Eventually, it might collapse to form a black hole — a dark remnant of a mighty star. They are hot, just not as hot as their smaller counterparts.
Up until , VY Canis Majoris was considered to be the largest star in the universe. At that time, the star was estimated to be at least 2, — 4, solar radi in size. However, more research revealed that the figures could be much lower than what had been stated before, and the current consensus is that VY Canis Majoris has a solar radii of around 1, VY Canis Majoris is a massive red supergiant star.
It is within our galaxy, the Milky Way, and can be located in the constellation of Canis Major. The star is a pulsating one, which means that its size reduces and increases irregularly from time to time. This aspect also contributed significantly to the decrease in the size of this star. Current measurements, put its solar radius is To give you perspective of how big this star is, we would require trillion Earths to fit into the volume of this star.
These are called binary star systems. There are also multiple star systems. VY CMa, however, burns as a single star. Being a semiregular variable star, VY Canis Majoris exhibits periodic light changes.
Its period lasts for about 2, days. The entry in his star catalogue, dated March 7, , lists it as a 7th magnitude star.
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