VY Canis Majoris is a red hypergiant in Canis Major, one of the largest stars known, shedding its outer layers into a surrounding cloud of dust.
At a glance
| type | red supergiant (class M) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 3,910 light-years (1.2 kpc) |
| its light left it | 3,910 years ago |
| luminosity | 270,000 × the Sun |
| radius | 1,420 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 3,490 K |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About VY Canis Majoris
VY Canis Majoris is a massive star near the end of its life, swollen to an immense size with a cool surface. It is losing mass at an extreme rate, throwing off gas that cools into dust and forms a nebula of arcs, knots and filaments, imaged in detail by Hubble.
That dust hides much of the star in visible light, so it appears faint for so luminous an object and shines more strongly in the infrared. Its distance was measured by radio astronomers tracking masers, small natural sources of intense microwave emission, in its outflow as Earth moved around the Sun.
What you see in the piece
From Earth it is far fainter than its power suggests, dimmed by its own dust. Fly to it and the disc becomes enormous and deep red, wrapped in the VY CMa Nebula.
Measured or modelled
Its radius is uncertain: the star has no sharp edge, and estimates depend on where the surface is defined and on the luminosity adopted. It may end as a supernova, or may collapse more quietly.
Questions
How big is VY Canis Majoris?
Its radius is about 1,420 × the Sun, which places it among the largest stars known, though the figure is uncertain.