Image of the Largest Yellow Star Ever Discovered
- 10 years ago
Astronomers have captured the first images of the largest yellow star ever found.
Astronomers have captured the first images of the largest yellow star ever found.
It is 12 thousand light years away from Earth and much bigger than experts had originally estimated. They now say it’s 13 hundred times larger in diameter than our own sun.
Known as HR 5171 A, it ranks among the ten largest stars known to exist in the universe.
Using the European Space Organization’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile, scientists were able to capture images of the star.
Olivier Chesneau, a scientist from the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in France who works with the Very Large Telescope is quoted as saying: “The new observations also showed that this star has a very close binary partner, which was a real surprise. The two stars are so close that they touch and the whole system resembles a gigantic peanut.”
Chesneau also says that the two stars could have a significant influence over each other’s evolution, including one of them stripping off the outer layers of the other star.
HR 5171 A shines a million times brighter than the sun in our solar system, and can almost be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
Astronomers have captured the first images of the largest yellow star ever found.
It is 12 thousand light years away from Earth and much bigger than experts had originally estimated. They now say it’s 13 hundred times larger in diameter than our own sun.
Known as HR 5171 A, it ranks among the ten largest stars known to exist in the universe.
Using the European Space Organization’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer in Chile, scientists were able to capture images of the star.
Olivier Chesneau, a scientist from the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in France who works with the Very Large Telescope is quoted as saying: “The new observations also showed that this star has a very close binary partner, which was a real surprise. The two stars are so close that they touch and the whole system resembles a gigantic peanut.”
Chesneau also says that the two stars could have a significant influence over each other’s evolution, including one of them stripping off the outer layers of the other star.
HR 5171 A shines a million times brighter than the sun in our solar system, and can almost be seen from Earth with the naked eye.