It is hard not to admire the colossal size of stars. The Sun is the closest star to Earth, but it is small compared to others. The biggest star in the known universe so far is 165 thousand times larger than our Sun, which is large enough to contain a million planets the size of Earth. Astronomers use the volume of the Sun to measure the size of other stars. Here is a list of the biggest stars so far known to humans:
- NML Cygni
Documented as the biggest star to date, it is 165 thousand times larger than our Sun. The mind blowing fact is that it is large enough to form a solar system of about 165 billion planets the size of Earth. This star is also big enough to stretch from Earth to Jupiter’s orbit in our Solar System, and its distance from Earth is estimated at over 5 thousand light years.
- WOH G64
The second biggest star identified by scientists is more than 160 thousand light years away from Earth and they are still trying to determine its exact size. This star well outside of our Milky Way resides in a neighboring galaxy, known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its size is estimated at almost 2 thousand times the Sun. A field of dust around makes it extremely difficult to measure its exact perimeter.
- VX Sagittarii
The third biggest star found so far is a variable pulsating star. In fact, it changes volume and temperature while it has contracted and expanded throughout the billions of years of its existence. It is indeed alive. This star is estimated to be 1 thousand 5 hundred times larger than our Sun. It owes its name to the location in the constellation Sagittarius, in our Milky Way. Somehow, this star could be compared to a human heart, pumping constantly.