Knowledge is power

Ever wondered what the largest star in the known universe is? I say the known universe because it is possible that a larger star(s) exists but we haven’t been able to observe it yet. So, the largest known star to man is a red giant known as VY Canis Majoris. There is some debate among astronomers as to whether this star is a supergiant or a hypergiant. I am not an astronomer so I don’t really know what the differences between the two types of stars are but I am certain that they are mostly of interest to academics than the rest of us.

The star is 5,000 light years away from the Earth. Remember that a light year is defined as the distance traveled by light in 1 year. In other words, it would take light 5,000 years to reach the Canis Majoris from the Earth. To give you an understanding of how much larger this star is compared to our own Sun and our planet Earth, consider the following quote from Wikipedia,

Similarly, if a human could walk on the surface of Canis Majoris – assuming a speed of 5 km/h (3 mph) for 8 hours a day – the person would have to walk for 650,000 years to circle the star (compared with 2 years 11 months to complete the same task on the Earth, and 310 years 7 months on the Sun).

Yep, that’s one huge star. It is a big universe out there and we are nothing but tiny little specks of star material that somehow came together to make us into breathing, living, and thinking beings. Think about that the next time you become upset because of some small issue taking place in our tiny corner of our vast universe.