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davepamn davepamn
 

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 M¢25  Funded By Mahalo ? |  August 27, 2009 03:15 PM

How do the stars sizes in the Milky Way compare with the Sun?

What is the distribution in size compared to the suns size, brightness, and temperature?
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pixelsilva pixelsilva
 
 August 28, 2009 09:49 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjS79R4oFWE
Interactive size comparison of the major stars in our galaxy.

Starting with our own Sun, which is one of the smallest stars we know of, the compared distribution sizes of other stars in the Milky Way are as follows:

* Sun (1.392.000 km in diameter - Yellow Star)
* Sirius A (2.335.000 km in diameter - Red Star)
* Vega (4.315.000 km in diameter - Blue Star)
* Pollux (11.120.000 km in diameter - Orange Giant)
* Arcturus (22.101.000 km in diameter - Red Giant)
* Aldebaran (59.770.000 km in diameter - Red Giant)
* Rigel (97.300.000 km in diameter - Blue Supergiant)
* Deneb (201.550.000 km in diameter - White Supergiant)
* Pistol Star (450.520.000 km in diameter - Blue Hypergiant)
* Betelgeuse (903.500.000 km in diameter - Red Supergiant)
* Antares A (1.330.000.000 km in diameter - Red Supergiant)
* VV Cephei A (2.644.800.000 km in diameter - Red Hypergiant)
* VY Canis Majoris (2.800.000.000 km in diameter - Red Hypergiant)

VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star in the Milky Way, with 2.000 Sun diameters and 300.000 times the luminosity of our Sun it is located in the Canis Major constellation. This red hypergiant is on the verge of becoming a supernova. The star is so huge that its light takes 8 minutes to travel around its own equator.

http://whatdoyoucare.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/sizeofworld.jpg
Size comparison, our Sun vs. VY Canis Majoris
Source(s):
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris

http://imparo.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/planet-and-star-size-comparison/

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/06/what-is-the-biggest-star-in-the-uni...

Asker's Rating:
• Where in the Milky Way is the Canis Majoris Star?


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Helpful: davepamn

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philipy philipy
 
August 29, 2009 05:32 AM
I don't think the Sun is one of the smallest stars we know of, I think it's a fairly average main-sequence star. There are some giants that are much bigger, but the Sun is closer to the norm, and there are plenty that are smaller.

http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/astrophysics/images/stellarevolution/hrgenericsml.jpg

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/stars/stellar-evolution/what-is-a-star

http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/education/senior/astrophysics/stellarevolution_hrintro.html

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philipy philipy
 
August 29, 2009 05:53 AM
Here's some more data on the nearest hundred stars.

Looks pretty intimidating but the last column (11) is the mass of the stars compared to the Sun, and in column (10) if the number is *bigger* than 4.85 it means the star is *less* bright than the Sun. As you can see most of the nearest stars are actually a lot smaller and dimmer than the sun.

That's not to say that our neighbourhood is necessariy typical of the whole galaxy, it might not be.

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/RECONS/TOP100.posted.htm

EDIT: Found a graph of the distibution by mass. Sun = 1

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/RECONS/mf.2009.0.jpg

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/RECONS/index.htm

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ugene ugene
 
October 01, 2009 12:17 PM - Fact Refuted
There is a mistake here. Light takes 8 HOURS NOT MINUTES to travel around its equator. 8 light-minutes even less than its radius.
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%9F%D1%81%D0%B0

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