Today you will learn about the most unusual stars. It is estimated that there are about 100 billion galaxies in the Universe and about 100 billion stars in each galaxy. With so many stars, there are bound to be some strange ones among them. Many of the sparkling, burning balls of gas are quite similar to each other, but some stand out for their strange size, weight and behavior. Using modern telescopes, scientists continue to study these stars to better understand them and the Universe, but mysteries still remain. Curious to know about the strangest stars? Here are the 25 most unusual stars in the Universe.
25. UY Scuti
Considered a supergiant star, UY Scuti is so large that it could engulf our star, half of our neighboring planets, and virtually our entire solar system. Its radius is approximately 1700 times the radius of the Sun.
24. Star of Methuselah
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
The Star of Methuselah, also named HD 140283, truly lives up to its name. Some believe it is 16 billion years old, which is a problem since the Big Bang only happened 13.8 billion years ago. Astronomers have tried to use more advanced age methods to better date the star, but still believe it is at least 14 billion years old.
23. Torna-Zhitkov object
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The existence of this object was originally proposed theoretically by Kip Thorne and Anna Zytkow; it consists of two stars, a neutron and a red supergiant, combined into one star. A potential candidate for this object has been named HV 2112.
22.R136a1 
Photo: flickr
Although UY Scuti is the most big star, known to man, R136a1 is definitely one of the heaviest in the Universe. Its mass is 265 times greater than the mass of our Sun. What makes it strange is that we don't know exactly how it was formed. The main theory is that it was formed by the merger of several stars.
21.PSR B1257+12
Photo: en.wikipedia.org
Most of the exoplanets in the solar system PSR B1257+12 are dead and bathed in deadly radiation from their old star. An amazing fact about their star is that it is a zombie star or pulsar that has died but the core still remains. The radiation emanating from it makes this solar system a no man's land.
20.SAO 206462
Photo: flickr
Consisting of two spiral arms spanning 14 million miles across, SAO 206462 is certainly a strange and unique star in the universe. While some galaxies are known to have arms, stars typically do not. Scientists believe that this star is in the process of creating planets.
19. 2MASS J0523-1403
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
2MASS J0523-1403 may be the smallest known star in the Universe, and it lies just 40 light-years away. Because it is small in size and mass, scientists believe it may be 12 trillion years old.
18. Heavy metal subdwarfs
Photo: ommons.wikimedia.org
Recently, astronomers discovered a pair of stars with a large number lead in the atmosphere, which creates thick and heavy clouds around the star. They're called HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738, and they're located 800 and 1000 light-years away respectively, but you could just call them heavy metal subdwarfs. Scientists are still not sure how they form.
17. RX J1856.5-3754
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
From the moment they are born, neutron stars begin to continuously lose energy and cool down. It is therefore unusual that a 100,000-year-old neutron star such as RX J1856.5-3754 could be so hot and show no signs of activity. Scientists believe interstellar material is held tightly gravitational field star, resulting in enough energy to heat the star.
16. KIC 8462852
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The star system KIC 8462852 has received intense attention and interest from SETI and astronomers for its unusual behavior recently. Sometimes it dims by 20 percent, which could mean something is orbiting around it. Of course, this led some to the conclusion that these were aliens, but another explanation is the debris of a comet that entered the same orbit with the star.
15. Vega
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Vega is the fifth most bright star in the night sky, but that’s not what makes it strange at all. Its high rotation speed of 960,600 km per hour gives it an egg shape, rather than a spherical shape like our Sun. There are also temperature variations, with colder temperatures at the equator.
14. SGR 0418+5729
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
A magnet located 6,500 light-years from Earth, SGR 0418+5729 has the strongest magnetic field in the Universe. The strange thing about it is that it does not correspond to the image of traditional magnetars with a surface magnetic field, like ordinary neutron stars.
13. Kepler-47
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
In the constellation Cygnus, 4,900 light-years from Earth, astronomers have discovered for the first time a pair of planets orbiting two stars. Known as the Kelper-47 system, the orbiting stars eclipse each other every 7.5 days. One star is roughly the size of our Sun, but only 84 percent as bright. The discovery proves that there may be more than one planet in the stressed orbit of a binary star system.
12. La Superba
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
La Superba is another massive star located 800 light years away. It is about 3 times heavier than our Sun and the size of four astronomical units. It is so bright that it can be observed from Earth with the naked eye.
11. MY Camelopardalis
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
MY Camelopardalis was thought to be a single bright star, but it was later discovered that the two stars are so close that they practically touch each other. Two stars slowly join together to form one star. Nobody knows when they will completely merge.
10.PSR J1719-1438b
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Technically, PSR J1719-1438b is not a star, but it once was. While it was still a star, its outer layers were sucked out by another star, turning it into a small planet. What's even more surprising about this former star, what is now a giant diamond planet, five times the size of Earth.
9. OGLE TR-122b
Photo: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
The average star usually makes the other planets look like pebbles, but OGLE TR-122b is about the same size as Jupiter. That's right, this is the smallest star in the Universe. Scientists believe it originated as a stellar dwarf several billion years ago, marking the first time a star the size of a planet has been discovered.
8. L1448 IRS3B
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Astronomers discovered the three-star system L1448 IRS3B as it began to form. Using the ALMA telescope in Chile, they observed two young stars orbiting a much older star. They believe that these two young stars were the result of nuclear reaction with gas rotating around the star.
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Mira, also known as Omicron Ceti, is 420 light-years away and is quite strange due to its constantly fluctuating brightness. Scientists consider it a dying star located on recent years of your life. Even more amazingly, it moves through space at a speed of 130 km per second and has a tail that stretches several light years.
6. Fomalhaut-C
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
If you thought the two-star system was cool, then you might want to see the Fomalhaut-C. This is a three-star system just 25 light-years from Earth. While triple star systems are not entirely unique, this one is because the location of the stars far away rather than close to each other is an anomaly. The star Fomalhaut-C is particularly far away from A and B.
5. Swift J1644+57
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The black hole's appetite is indiscriminate. In the case of Swift J1644+57, a dormant black hole woke up and devoured the star. Scientists made this discovery in 2011 using X-ray and radio waves. It took 3.9 billion light years for the light to reach Earth.
4.PSR J1841-0500
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Known for their regular and constantly pulsating glow, they are rapidly rotating stars that rarely turn off. But PSR J1841-0500 surprised scientific topics that he did this for only 580 days. Scientists believe that studying this star will help them understand how pulsars work.
3.PSR J1748-2446
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
The strangest thing about PSR J1748-2446 is that it is the fastest spinning object in the Universe. It has a density 50 trillion times that of lead. To top it all off, its magnetic field is a trillion times stronger than that of our Sun. In short, this is an insanely overactive star.
2. SDSS J090745.0+024507
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
SDSS J090745.0+024507 is a ridiculously long name for a runaway star. With the help of a supermassive black hole, the star has been knocked out of its orbit and is moving fast enough to escape the Milky Way. Let's hope that none of these stars rush towards us.
1. Magnetar SGR 1806-20
Photo: Wikipedia Commons.com
Magnetar SGR 1806-20 is a terrifying force that exists in our Universe. Astronomers detected a bright flash 50,000 light-years away that was so powerful it bounced off the Moon and illuminated Earth's atmosphere for ten seconds. A solar flare caused scientists questions about whether something like this could lead to the extinction of all life on Earth.
The closest star to Earth, which we call the Sun, is far from the largest. Despite the fact that humanity has currently been able to explore only a small part of the Universe, there are exactly as many stars and other space objects as modern equipment allows us to record and study; it is already known for certain about the existence of much larger luminaries, in comparison with which the Sun looks like a cosmic object. speck of dust The ten largest stars are known to every person interested in astronomy.
Despite their remoteness, for the most part they are clearly visible in the night sky, because the powerful stream of light from them can travel vast distances. So, what are they - the largest stars in the Universe known to man?
Supergiant of the constellation Scorpio Antares
Starting the story about the largest stars, it is necessary to pay attention to the supergiant from the constellation Scorpio - the red star has a radius approximately equal to 1200-1500, or a little more, solar radii. More precise data is not yet available. The distance of this object from the Earth is approximately 12 thousand light. years. The object is visible in the sky with the naked eye.
Bright star of the constellation Cygnus
KY Cygni also leads in size among the stars known to modern mankind. The distance from this object to Earth is approximately 5 thousand light years. The star has its own oddities - its mass exceeds that of the Sun only 25 times, and its radius at the equator is 1420 solar. This object emits a million times more light than the Sun, which also makes it very noticeable on the horizon.
The universe is a very big place, and there is no way in which we can know which star is the biggest. But what is the biggest star we know of?
Before we get to the answer, let's look at our own Sun for scale. Our mighty star is 1.4 million km across. This is such a huge distance that it is difficult to put it to scale. The Sun makes up 99.9% of all matter in our Solar System. In fact, there are one million planet Earths inside the Sun.
Astronomers use the terms "solar radius" and "solar mass" to compare larger and smaller stars, so we'll do the same. The solar radius is 690,000 km, one solar mass is 2 x 10 30 kilograms. This amounts to 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
One huge known star in our galaxy is Eta Carinae, located 7,500 light years from the Sun, weighing 120 solar masses. She's a million times brighter than the sun. Most stars lose their mass over time, much like the solar wind. But Eta Carinae is so large that every year it throws off a mass equal to 500 Earth masses. With so much mass lost, it is very difficult for astronomers to accurately measure where a star ends and its stellar wind begins.
So the best answer from astronomers right now is that the radius of Eta Carinae is 250 times the size of the Sun.
And one interesting note: Eta Carinae is set to explode soon, making it one of the most spectacular supernovae humans have ever seen.
But the most massive star in the Universe is considered to be R136a1, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. There are disputes, but its mass may be more than 265 solar masses. And this is a mystery to astronomers, because theoretically the largest stars were considered to be about 150 solar masses, formed in the early Universe, when stars formed from hydrogen and helium left after Big Bang. The answer to this controversy is that R136a1 may have been formed when several large stars merged together. Needless to say, R136a1 could explode into a hypernova any day now.
From the point of view big stars Let's look at a familiar star located in the constellation Orion - Betelgeuse. This red supergiant has a radius 950 to 1200 times the size of the Sun, and would span the orbit of Jupiter if placed in our Solar System.
But this is nothing. Largest known star VY Canis Major. A red hypergiant star in the constellation Canis Major, located approximately 5,000 light-years from Earth. Professor Robert Humphreys of the University of Minnesota recently calculated its upper size to be greater than 1,540 times the size of the Sun. If VY Canis Majoris was placed in our system, its surface would extend beyond the orbit of Saturn.
This is the largest star that we know, but Milky Way, likely has dozens of stars that further obscure the clouds of gas and dust so we can't see them.
But let's see if we can answer the original question, what is the biggest star in the Universe? Obviously, it is virtually impossible for us to find it, the Universe is a very big place, and there is no way in which we could peer into every corner.
Pistol is another star, which is considered one of the largest.
The largest stars will be cool supergiants, theorists say. For example, the temperature of VY Canis Majoris is only 3500 K. A truly large star would be even colder. A cool supergiant with a temperature of 3000 K would be 2,600 times the size of the Sun.
And finally, here's a great video that shows the size of various objects in space, from our tiny planet to VV Cepheus. VY Canis Majoris is not included in the animation, probably because they had no new information on this star.
My six-year-old daughter is a question-asking machine. A couple of days ago we were driving from school and she asked me about nature. One of her questions was, " Which star is the largest in the Universe??" I gave a simple answer. "The universe is a big place," I said, "and there is no way we can know which star is the biggest"But that's not the real answer.
Radius and mass of the Sun:
When talking about star sizes, it's important to first look at ours for a sense of scale. Our star has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers. This is such a huge number that it is difficult to get a sense of scale. By the way, the Sun accounts for 99.9% of all matter in our planet. In fact, you could fit a million inside the volume of the Sun.
Using these values, astronomers created the concepts of "solar radius" and "solar mass", which they use to compare stars of larger or smaller size and mass to our Sun. The solar radius is 690,000 km and the solar mass is 2 x 10 30 kg. This is 2 nonillion kilograms, or 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
Illustration of a Morgan-Keenan spectral diagram showing the differences between main sequence stars. Credit: Wikipedia Commons.
It's also worth considering the fact that our Sun is quite small, a G-class main sequence star (specifically a G2V star), which is commonly known as being on the smaller side of the size chart (see above). Although the Sun is definitely larger than the most common M-class stars, or red dwarfs, it is itself a dwarf (no pun intended!) compared to blue giants and other spectral classes of stars.
Classification:
Stars are grouped based on their characteristics, such as spectral class(i.e. color), temperature, size and brightness. The most common classification method is called the Morgan-Keenan (MK) system, which classifies stars based on temperature using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M, with O being the hottest stars and M being the coldest. Each letter class is divided into numerical subclasses from 0 (hottest) to 9 (coldest). That is, the hottest stars are O1, and the coldest stars are M9.
In the Morgan-Keenan system, luminosity class is added using Roman numerals. This is done based on the specific width of absorption lines in the star's spectrum, which vary depending on the density of the atmosphere, which distinguishes giant stars from dwarfs. Luminosity has classes 0 and I as applied to hyper- and supergiants; classes II, III and IV as applied to bright, normal giants and subgiants, respectively; class V for main sequence stars; and classes VI and VII apply to subdwarfs and dwarfs.
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram showing the relationship between star color, luminosity, and temperature. Credit: astronomy.starrynight.com
There is also a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram relating to stellar classification by absolute magnitude (i.e. true brightness), luminosity and surface temperature. The same classification is used for spectral types, ranging from blue and white at one end to red at the other, which then groups stars together by absolute magnitude, placing them on a two-dimensional graph (see above).
On average, O-class stars are hotter than other classes of stars, reaching effective temperatures of up to 30,000 Kelvin. At the same time, they are larger and more massive, reaching sizes of more than 6.5 solar radii and up to 16 solar masses. At the lower end of the diagram, K- and M-class stars (orange and red dwarfs) tend to be cooler, with temperatures ranging from 2400 to 5700 Kelvin, which is 0.7 - 0.96 from and somewhere between 0.08 - 0. 8 of solar mass.
Based on the full classification of our Sun (G2V), we can say that it is a main sequence star with a temperature of about 5800 Kelvin. Now let's look at another famous star system in our galaxy - Eta Carinae- a system containing at least two stars located at a distance of 7500 light years from us in the direction of the constellation Carina. The main star of this system is estimated to be 250 times bigger than the sun, has a mass of at least 120 solar masses and is a million times brighter than the Sun, making it one of the largest and brightest stars ever observed.
Eta Carinae, one of the most massive known stars, is located in the constellation Carina. Credit: NASA
There is currently debate about the size of this star. Most stars emit a stellar wind (the same as wind), losing mass over time. But Eta Carina so large that it sheds 500 times more mass annually. With such mass loss, it is difficult for astronomers to accurately measure where the star ends and the stellar wind begins. In addition, scientists believe that Eta Carina will explode in the not so distant future, and it will be the most spectacular thing people have ever seen.
In terms of sheer mass, first place goes to star R136a1, located at a distance of 163,000 light years from us. It is believed that this star may contain 315 solar masses, which is a mystery to astronomers as they believe that stars can only contain a maximum of 150 solar masses. The answer lies in the fact that star R136a1 was most likely formed when several massive stars merged together. Needless to say, R136a1 could explode like .
In terms of big stars, a good (and popular) example is Betelgeuse. Located in the shoulder of Orion, this famous supergiant has a radius of approximately 950-1200 solar radii, at which radius the Sun would be absorbed into our Solar System. In fact, whenever we want to put the size of our Sun into perspective, we often use Betelgeuse to do this (see below).
However, even after we use this lumbering red giant to compare the Sun to larger stars, there are still larger stars left. Let's consider star WOH G64, a red supergiant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, approximately 168,000 light-years from Earth. With a diameter of 1540 solar radii, this star is currently the largest star known to us in the Universe.
But there is also RW Cepheus, an orange hypergiant in the constellation Cepheus, located 3500 light years from Earth and measuring 1535 solar radii in diameter. Star Westerland 1-26 (Westerlund 1-26) Extraordinarily large, it is a red supergiant (or hypergiant) located in the stellar supercluster Westerlund 1 at a distance of 11,500 light years from us and measuring 1,530 solar radii in diameter. Meanwhile, stars V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarius also have huge dimensions of 1520 solar radii in diameter.
The largest star is UY Scuti (UY Scuti)
The title of the biggest star in the Universe(that we know of) comes down to two contenders. For example, UY Shield Currently at the top of the list, located 9,500 light-years away in the constellation Scutum, this bright red supergiant and pulsating variable star has an average radius of 1,708 solar radii - or 2.4 billion kilometers (15.9 AU) , thereby giving it a volume of 5 million volumes of the Sun.
However, this average rating includes an error of ±192 solar radii, which means the radius of this star can be either 1900 or 1516 solar radii. Lower limit places it on par with V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarius. Meanwhile, the second largest star in the list of possible biggest stars- This NML Cygni (NML Cygni), a semi-regular variable red hypergiant star located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 5300 light years from Earth.
An enlarged image of the red giant UY Scuti. Credit: Rutherford Observatory/Haktarfone.
Due to the location of this star in , it is heavily obscured by dust. As a result, according to astronomers, its size can range from 1642 to 2775 solar radii, which means it could become the largest star known in the Universe(with a margin of about 1000 solar radii), or in fact the second largest, keeping up with UY Shield.
Just a few years ago the title the largest star wore VY Canis Majoris(VY Canis Majoris), a red hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major, located 5000 light years from Earth. Back in 2006, Professor Roberta Humphrey of the University of Minnesota calculated the upper limit of its size to be 1540 times larger than the Sun. Its average mass, however, was 1420 solar masses, which places it in 8th place behind V354 Cepheus and VX Sagittarius.
The above were listed biggest stars, which we know about, but most likely there are dozens of larger stars hidden by dust and gas, so we don’t see them. But even if we can't detect these stars, we can speculate about their likely size and mass. So how big can stars be?? Once again, Professor Roberta Humphrey from Minnesota gave the answer.
Comparison of the sizes of the Sun and VY Canis Majoris, a star that once held the title largest known star in the universe. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Oona Räisänen.
As she explained in her article, largest stars in the universe- the coldest. Therefore, although Eta Carina is the brightest star we know of, it is extremely hot (25,000 Kelvin) and therefore only 250 solar radii in diameter. The largest stars, on the contrary, will be cold supergiants. As in the case VY Canis Majoris, which has a temperature of 3500 Kelvin, and a really large star will be even cooler.
At 3000 Kelvin, Humphrey estimates the cool supergiant would be 2600 times the size of the Sun. This is below the upper limit of estimates for NML Swan, but above the average ratings for both NML Swan, and for UY Shield. Therefore, this is the upper limit of the star (at least theoretically and based on all the information we have to date).
But as we continue to peer into the Universe with all our telescopes and study it with automatic spacecraft and manned missions, you're sure to find new amazing things that will continue to amaze us!
And be sure to check out this amazing animation below, which shows the sizes of various objects in space, from tiny to star UY Scuti. Enjoy!
Title of the article you read "Which star is the largest in the Universe?".
