The Largest Star in the Universe: UY Scuti and Other Massive Stellar Giants

For comparison, UY Scuti has an estimated main-sequence radius of about 1,188 Million kilometres, or some 1700 times larger than that of the Sun. If put in the middle of the solar system then the size of the outermost visible frontier of UY Scuti would be even a little larger than the orbit of Jupiter. 

 Some key facts about UY Scuti:

• Diameter: 2,376 thousand million kilometres (1,476 thousand million miles); or 1,708 times the diameter of the Sun 
• Mass: Roughly between 7 and 10 times the mass of the sun. 
• Luminosity: In fact, the Sputnik was at least 10^5 or 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun. 
• Surface temperature: 3092°C (5 598°F), that is, 40 percent cooler than the surface of the SUN. 
• Age: The estimated age of about 10 to 20 million years younger than the sun which is approximately 4.6 billion years.
  

UY Scuti has a large radius, nearly equivalent to that of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, yet it is not the largest star identified to date. It has a mass which is about 7 to 10 times the mass of the Sun. It is at the extended phase of stellar evolution; the star is expected to explode as a supernova in the next few million years. 

Other Extremely Large Stars 

While UY Scuti currently holds the title of the largest known star, several other stars rank among the largest in the universe:

 VY Canis Majoris: This is a red hypergiant, having a diameter of 1. 5 million kilometres, that is, 1500 times the size of the Sun and it is situated at a distance of 5000 parsecs. 

WOH G64: A red hypergiant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, with the estimated radius of its photosphere of 1540 Rs, can be considered as the contender for the largest star.

Stephenson 2-18: It used to be regarded as the largest known star, but the latest observations might indicate that the star may be larger than it has been estimated earlier.

The universe is known to have billions of stars most of which are much bigger than the sun that we have in our solar system. UY Scuti is the current record holder, given that more massive stellar giants may be discovered in the future.

The Sun's Size Compared to the Universe's Largest Stars

As stated and as you will learn, the Sun is not the largest star in the universe. Indeed it is not a very large star compared to the numerous stars in the universe. UY Scuti is a red hypergiant star in the Scutum constellation that is as far as 9,500 light years away, and it is the biggest discovered star. According to its parameters, UY Scuti is estimated to be approximately 1,700 times larger than our Sun and could easily contain over 5 billion Suns.

Although the Sun is essential for our solar system it is one of the largest stars ranked in the twelfth percentile for size, though nowhere near the largest. Other stars that have been proposed to be the largest include VY Canis Majoris and WOH G64 and these stars are also much larger than the sun.

While UY Scuti currently holds the title of the largest known star, the universe is vast, with countless massive stars yet to be discovered. As we continue exploring, UY Scuti reminds us of the large scale of the cosmos and the fascinating stellar giants that populate our galaxy and beyond.

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