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How big is VV Cephei A?

VV Cephei A is 1.1 terametri

A Galactic Giant: The Story of VV Cephei A

Have you ever wondered about the biggest stars in our galaxy? If so, then step into the world of VV Cephei A, one of the largest stars we know of. This giant star, living in the far-off constellation of Cepheus, is so huge that it’s hard to compare it to anything we’re familiar with on Earth!

Size Comparison: How Big is VV Cephei A?

To give you an idea of just how big VV Cephei A is, let’s start by comparing it to our own Sun. If our Sun were the size of a basketball, VV Cephei A would be about as big as Mount Everest! That’s right, this star is nearly 1,000 times the size of our Sun! To put it another way, you could fit 1,000 Suns inside VV Cephei A and still have room to spare. But let’s go even bigger. You’ve probably heard of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The orbit of Jupiter - that’s the path it takes as it travels around the Sun - is almost the same size as VV Cephei A. Can you imagine a star so big that it could replace the Sun and still reach out as far as Jupiter?

VV Cephei A: A Star of Many Mysteries

Now that we’ve talked about just how big VV Cephei A is, let’s dive a little deeper into its story. VV Cephei A is part of a binary star system, meaning it’s paired with another star. This other star, a blue star called VV Cephei B, is much smaller and hotter than VV Cephei A.

  • The two stars orbit each other, coming close together and then moving apart.
  • When VV Cephei A gets close to its partner, it actually loses some of its material to the blue star. This creates a large disk of material around the hot star. - VV Cephei A is also a red supergiant, which means it’s in a late stage of its life.
  • Even though it’s a supergiant, VV Cephei A is pretty cool compared to other stars, with a surface temperature of about 3,500 degrees Celsius. That’s hot enough to melt almost anything on Earth, but it’s actually pretty chilly for a star!

Conclusion: The Wonders of VV Cephei A

In the end, VV Cephei A is more than just one of the biggest stars in our galaxy. It’s a fascinating example of the wonders that exist in our universe. It’s a place where the ordinary rules we’re used to on Earth don’t apply, a place where stars can be as big as Jupiter’s orbit and where cool stars can be hotter than anything we’ve ever experienced. So, the next time you look up at the night sky, think about VV Cephei A and the other incredible stars out there. It’s a big universe, and we’re just beginning to explore it.

Smaller By Category
Antares
Antares is a red supergiant very near the ecliptic, so it gets occulted (blocked) by the Moon quite often. Also, Antares weighs septillions of tons and is losing weight through solar wind, but this method is slow. The fast way is to explode, which it'll do later.
V354 Cephei
V354 Cephei is a red supergiant, and it's huge. If placed in the Solar System, it would extend out to the asteroid belt. 354, in addition to being in this star's name, is also the year Augustine of Hippo was born.
La Superba
La Superba is one of the reddest stars in the night sky. It is so red because of all the carbon-13 it creates when fusing helium. (Normal carbon is carbon-12.) La Superba is only 2700° C, making it one of the coldest stars.
Larger By Category
Pistol Star
The Pistol Star is one of the most luminous stars known. In twenty seconds, it radiates as much energy as the Sun does in a year. Interstellar dust prevents us from seeing it. It's called the Pistol Star not because of its luminosity, but because it's in the Pistol Nebula.
Mu Cephei
Mu Cephei is very red. It is sometimes referred to as "Herschel's Garnet Star" because it is garnet red. Another alternative name is Erakis, if you don't like the first two names.
KY Cygni
KY Cygni is 200,000 times more luminous than the Sun, and the Sun is pretty luminous, isn't it? The Sun is so luminous you aren't supposed to look at it! However, it's okay to look at KY Cyngi because it is 300 million times farther away.