The Universe is a beautiful place full of captivating galaxies, stars, planets, asteroids, and infinite other bodies. Stars probably hold the title for the most fascinating celestial objects there. From growing up with stories of how stars are actually angels to finally knowing that the Sun is a star as well. While the Universe is still a mystery to us, there is a lot we know. Here are the ten biggest stars in the Universe that are known to mankind till date.
1. V838 Monocerotis
Belonging to the constellation Monoceros, V838 Monocerotis is a red star that is 19,900 light-years away from the Earth. The star was first noticed after a massive eruption in 2002. The reason for the eruption is still a mystery, but astronomers still have their theories like the eruption was the result of the merger of planets and a binary star or stellar death processes. With the range of 380 to 1,970 solar radii, V838 Monocerotis is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the Universe.
2. Betelgeuse
Orion is easily the most known constellation to us humans. Betelgeuse, which you can see from October to march, is a part of the Orion constellation. It is one of the most popular red supergiants that is around 640 lights years away from Earth. Its radius is roughly thousand times that of our Sun, ranging between 950 and 1200 solar radii. Astronomers believe that Betelgeuse can become a supernova at any given time. Apart from being one of the largest stars in the night sky, it is also the tenth brightest star as well as the second brightest star in Orion. It is also one of the biggest stars that is visible to a naked eye from the Earth.
3. KW Sagittarii
KW Sagittarii or KW Sgr. is a red supergiant star with 0 Kelvin temperature. Located in the Milky Way, on the boundary of the constellation Sagittarius, it is still considered a part of the constellation. Lying 7800 light-years away from Earth, it is 1480 times the radius of the Sun. Unlike Betelgeuse, to watch the star, you need a telescope. It stretches out past the orbit of Jupiter if placed in the center of the solar system.
4. VY Canis Majoris
The next in the list is VY Canis Majoris, which was the biggest star in the galaxy just a few years ago. It is still one of the most massive and luminous red hyper-giant stars with a radius of 1420 (plus-minus 120) solar radii known to us. The Earth is 3900 light-years away from VY Canis Majoris. As the name suggests, it is also a part of the Canis Major constellation.
5. V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarii
For this position in this list, we have two contenders. While V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarii are two different stars, their exact solar radii of 1520 (estimated diameter) put them on the same spot, making them two of the largest stars in the Universe.
V354 Cephei is a red hyper-giant star that is roughly 9000 light-years away and belongs to the Cepheus constellation.
VX Sagittarii is also a red hyper-giant star but is closer to the earth with a distance of 1076 light-years between them.
6. HD 143183
After V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarii comes HD 143183. It is a red supergiant (or hypergiant) star, belonging to the constellation Norma. With a radius between 1,480 and 1,830 solar radii, it is definitely one of the largest stars in our galaxy. It lies just on the outskirts of the constellation and is 6523 light-years away from the planet.
7. Westerlund 1-26
The next biggest star in the Universe is the red hypergiant or supergiant Westerlund 1-26 located around 11,500 light-years away from the planet Earth. With its radius ranging from 1,530-2,550 solar radii, it can probably be the biggest star in the Universe if the latter end of the spectrum is proximate to reality.
8. RW Cephei
The third-largest star in the Universe belongs to the constellation Cepheus in the northern hemisphere sky. An orange hypergiant with the solar radii of 1535, RW Cephei is 11,400 lights years away from Earth’s surface. If you replace the Sun with this star in the solar system, it would stretch even beyond Jupiter’s orbit.
9. WOH G64
With solar radii of 1,540-1,730, WOH G64 is the second-largest star in the Universe, located in a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way – Large Magellanic Cloud. It is a red supergiant star, 1,63,000 light-years away from the Earth. Astronomers believe that it was even larger in 2004 with roughly an estimate of 3000 solar radii. As a result of torus-shaped clouds of dust that obscures the light of the star, its brightness fluctuates over time.
10. UY Scuti
Astronomers make new discoveries about the Universe every day. Facts you know can change at any given point of time. For some time now, however, UY Scuti has been the largest star in the Universe. Do not mistake it for the most massive star in the space. It is a hypergiant with a radius 1700 times more than the Sun. It was first detected it 1860 by German astronomers who names it BD -12 5055. It is about 9500 light-years away from the Earth and lies near the core of the Milky Way. To really grasp how big UY Scuti is, here is an example for you. If Sun is a ball with a diameter of 8 inches, UY Scuti would be a ball with a diameter of 7,92,00,00,000 inches or 20,1168 kilometers.
This list of the ten largest stars in the Universe can change anytime. These stars erupt and shed their mass, that is why astronomers are constantly recalculating their radius. Also keep in mind the bigger stars can be there in the space, hidden between dust and particles.
