How large is VY Canis Majoris?

Answer 1

The diameter of VY Canis Majoris is Est. 3,063,500,000 km. (but disputed)

If the Sun was replaced by VY Canis Majoris, its surface would extend to the orbit of Saturn. Assuming the upper size limit of 2100 solar radii, light would take more than 8 hours to travel around the star's circumference, as opposed to 14.5 seconds for our Sun.

It would take over 7,000,000,000,000,000 (7 Quadrillion) Earths or 7,000,000,000 (7 Billion) Suns to fill VY Canis Majoris. [See Link]

Answer 2

VY Canis Majoris will live out it's short life, then explode in a spectacular supernova event, releasing its tremendous energy. Astronomers can't say exactly when this will happen (if it already hasn't) or how big it will be, but luckily it is too far away to do any damage to our home planet. But it should be a spectacular show 5,000 years after it goes off, when the light finally arrives from its long journey to signal that the giant has fallen

Answer 3

Supernova are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that can outshine an entire galaxy. During this short period, a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun would emit over its life span. The explosion expels much or all of a star's material, driving a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium. This shock wave sweeps up an expanding shell of gas and dust called a supernova remnant.

They are massive. Some are over 10 light years across

A supernova remnant is even bigger. Upwards of 50 million light years across.

See related for information about how much energy is released.

Answer 4

It is the largest star currently known, a red hypergiant. Its density is very low, so its not the most massive, but ii has the largest diameter, around 1800 to 2100 solar radii (its radius is 1800-2100 times larger than our suns). If it were in the centre of our solar system its edges would almost reach the orbit of Saturn.

Answer 5

We do not know exactly. They are various types of supernova explosion (distinguished from Earth's point of observation) characterised by the time/shape of the light profile and the spectra of the light generated. We think the largest ones are caused by a core collapse (into a black hole) but it is possible that back in the youth of our universe when stars were much, much bigger than they can be now they may have exploded in different ways.

Answer 6

About 9 times as large as our Sun