VY Canis Majoris

[satanboy]

Of all known stars, the VY Canis Majoris is the largest. This red Hypergiant star, found in the constellation Canis Major, is estimated to have a radius at least 1,800 that of the Sun’s. In astronomy-speak we use the term 1,800 solar radii to refer to this particular size. Although not the most luminous among all known stars, it still ranks among the top 50.

Hypergiants are the most massive and luminous of stars. As such, they emit energy at a very fast rate. Thus, hypergiants only last for a few million years. Compare that to the Sun and similar stars that can keep on burning up to 10 billion years. VY Canis Majoris a.k.a. VY CMa is about 4,900 light years from the Earth. This value, however, is just a rough estimate because it is too far for parallax to be used. Parallax is the most common method for measuring star distances. It is actually a special kind of triangulation method, i.e., similar to the one employed by engineers that make use of angles and a fixed baseline.

Some stars exist in pairs. These are called binary star systems. There are also multiple star systems. VY CMa, however, burns as a single star.
Being a semiregular variable star, VY Canis Majoris exhibits periodic light changes. Its period lasts for about 2,200 days.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/39472/vy-canis-majoris/#ixzz362JSFAir

 

[Picard]

Canis Majoris is bigger than the orbit of Saturn around our sun.

 

[Modeus]

It doesn't give a perfect indication of scale, but I have used an Oculus Rift to experience the scale of solar system objects and then other large stars, including CM. Literally took my breath away when CM showed up in the field of view. No words can describe, your brain just sort of pauses as you try get it into perspective.