TOP 7 largest known stars in the universe
Universe is a mysterious place that has been continuously expanding since the moment of the Big Bang. Our universe is about 13.8 billion years old and every second it expands by 186,000 miles (speed of light). It is estimated that there are over 1 sextillion stars/planets in the universe which is not surprising at all. Because of the expansion of the universe, this number keeps increasing yet only a tiny percentage is potential for any life to develop.
7. UY Scuti (755 times larger than the Sun)
UY Scuti also known as BD-12 5055 is a red supergiant located in the constellation Scutum. It is one of the largest star in the universe with a massive size. It is estimated to be more than 755 times larger than our Sun, compared to the Earth it is 740,000,000 times larger. This star was discovered in 1860 by German astronomers at the Bonn Observatory. Compared to some of the other stars in the list, it is pretty ‘close’ to us, only 5100 light years away.
6. HD 143183 (832 times larger than the Sun)
HD 143183 is a red supergiant that is allocated in the constellation Norma. This star is one of the most luminous stars of all. HD 143183’s luminosity is about 300,000 times greater than our Sun’s with a monumental size that is as large as 832 Suns. It can be found 6850 light years away which is a middle range compared to the TOP 7 largest stars’ average distance but still so far away that probably no one will ever see it from sensible distance.
5. VY Canis Majoris (1420 times larger than the Sun)
VY Canis Majoris was discovered on the 7th of March 1801 by astronomer Jérôme Lalande. VY Canis Majoris is an extremely oxygen-rich red hypergiant that is more than 1420 times larger than the Sun. It is one of the largest stars known in 2020, that is over 3800 light years away. One light year is basically travelling for one year at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second).
4. RSGC1-F01 (1435 times larger than the Sun)
RSGC1-F01 is part of the RSGC1 group, as the name suggest with many red supergiants located in it. In fact, there are 15 main stars ranging from F01 to F15 and RSGC1-F01 is the second largest of them. Approximately, it is 1435 times larger than our Sun and more than 2900 light years away from us.
3. RSGC1-F02 (1498 times larger than the Sun)
RSGC1-F02 is another supergiant that is part of the RSGC1 group, and this is the largest star in the group with a size that is 1498 times larger than our Sun. It is also located 2900 light years away from us which is also the closest star in our TOP 7 largest known stars in the universe list. Such a size makes this star placing 4th on our list.
2. Westerlund 1-26 (1530 times larger than the Sun)
Westerlunk 1-26 is a red supergiant as most of the stars on this list which is located in the Westerlund 1 super star cluster. It is the second largest star ever discovered which is 1530 times larger than the Sun. It is more than 11,500 light years away which makes it very unlikely to be visited. Given a speed of 1000 mph, it would still take us over 7 billion years just to get there.
1. WOH G64 (1540 times larger than the Sun)
WOH G64 is a massive star that is located in the constellation of Dorado. It is the largest star ever discovered and the size of it is over 1540 times the Sun which is even hard to imagine. It is extremely far away, in fact this star is the furthest away from us in our list which is approximately 160,000 light years away.
