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Neil. YOU are a star!
But according to theorists, how big can stars get?I contacted Roberta Humphreys from the University of Minnesota, the researcher who calculated the size of VY Canis Majoris, and posed this question to her. She noted that the largest stars are the coolest. So even though Eta Carinae is the most luminous star we know of, it's extremely hot - 25,000 Kelvin - and so only a mere 400 solar radii.The largest stars will be the cool supergiants. For example, VY Canis Majoris is only 3,500 Kelvin. A really big star would be even cooler. At 3,000 Kelvin, a cool supergiant would be 2,600 times the size of the Sun.That, she believes, is the largest possible star.
The largest one we know about is called Canis Majoris, about 5000 light years from earth. Its radius is estimated to be up to 2100 times larger than that of our sun! So if that star were in place of the sun its surface would extend out to about Saturn. Quite large.Found an interesting page about the subject here: http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/06/what-is-the-biggest-star-in-the-universe/And to quote from that page about the largest possible star:QuoteBut according to theorists, how big can stars get?I contacted Roberta Humphreys from the University of Minnesota, the researcher who calculated the size of VY Canis Majoris, and posed this question to her. She noted that the largest stars are the coolest. So even though Eta Carinae is the most luminous star we know of, it's extremely hot - 25,000 Kelvin - and so only a mere 400 solar radii.The largest stars will be the cool supergiants. For example, VY Canis Majoris is only 3,500 Kelvin. A really big star would be even cooler. At 3,000 Kelvin, a cool supergiant would be 2,600 times the size of the Sun.That, she believes, is the largest possible star.
Holy Guacamole !!Thank ewe Madidus_ScientiaThat is a fantastic link and ...did ewe play that Youtube vid ?....wooo !!!.....Brilliant !!
Quote from: neilep on 15/06/2008 18:35:22Holy Guacamole !!Thank ewe Madidus_ScientiaThat is a fantastic link and ...did ewe play that Youtube vid ?....wooo !!!.....Brilliant !!At the end of the video there are 7 more watch 'the biggest star known to man', VY Canis Majoris even has funnky sound track. OH my that is massive, it's like 3 times the size of VV Cephei, I had no idea.