VY Canis Majoris

Also known as HD 58061

red hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major

AI overview

VY Canis Majoris is an enormous red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. It is one of the largest known stars and helps astronomers understand the extreme sizes that stars can reach during certain stages of their life cycles.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Constellation: Canis Major
Radius: 2252
Variable-star type: semiregular variable star
Image: Sun and VY Canis Majoris.svg

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Commons category: VY Canis Majoris
spectral class: Ma
catalog code: JCMTSF J072258.5-254602
right ascension: 110.743036542
declination: -25.767565417
radial velocity: 49.0
apparent magnitude: -0.72
parallax: 1.78
epoch: J2000.0
right ascension component of proper motion: 9.84
declination component of proper motion: 0.75
age estimated by a dating method: 8.2

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Encyclopedic overview

VY Canis Majoris (abbreviated to VY CMa) is an extreme oxygen-rich red hypergiant or red supergiant (O-rich RHG or RSG) and pulsating variable star 1.2 kiloparsecs (3,900 light-years) from the Solar System in the slightly southern constellation of Canis Major. It is one of the largest known stars, one of the most luminous and massive red supergiants, and one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way.

No evidence has been found that it is part of a multiple-star system. Its great infrared (IR) excess makes it one of the brightest objects in the local part of the galaxy (Orion Arm) at wavelengths of 5 to 20 microns (μm) and indicates a dust shell or heated disk. It is about 17±8 times the mass of the Sun (M☉). It is surrounded by a complex asymmetric circumstellar envelope (CSE) caused by its mass loss. It produces strong molecular maser emission and was one of the first radio masers discovered. VY CMa is embedded in the large molecular cloud Sh 2-310, a large, quite local star-forming H II region—its diameter: 480 arcminutes (′) or 681 ly (209 pc). It lies near the young open cluster NGC 2362, and is thought to be a member.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “VY Canis Majoris” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.