Twinkle, twinkle...

[Asta Kask]

...really mindblowingly enormous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R136a1) star.

Stars are supposed to be no more than 150 solar masses. However, to the joy of many astronomers, they recently found a star that was nearly twice that - 265 solar masses. And they think that it was 320 solar masses when it formed.

It's always good when they find ridiculously huge objects. Big is Beautiful.

[Crimmy]

Oh, the irony of the title... :smallbiggrin:

[Dr.Epic]

It's always good when they find ridiculously huge objects. Big is Beautiful.

That's what she said.

[Moff Chumley]

/thread. :smallamused:

[Nameless]

Holy son of a cheese grater. o_o

[Calmar]

Holy carp! :smalleek:
These hypergiant-things seem to be as much bigger as our Sun as our Sun is to Jupiter or even Earth...

I hope one of them is surrounded by common suns orbiting it. :smallbiggrin:

[Obrysii]

And VY Canis Majoris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vy-canis-majoris.jpg) is the largest diameter star.

It's diameter, if placed in the Sun's location, would extent to Saturn.

To put that into perspective, if the Sun is a marble, then VY Canis Majoris is the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

[Xyk]

{Scrubbed}

[Ravens_cry]

{Scrubbed}

[Eldan]

I can't find the picture, but there was an animated gif around somewhere, comparing the sizes of different celestial bodies. And of Gurren Lagann, but that's not important to the discussion. Canis Majoris was in it.

You know, if I ever need the proper location for a villain's lair in an interstellar Sci-Fi game, I think I know where I'd put it.

[Obrysii]

{Scrubbed}

I love imagining stuff to a scale we can vaguely relate to.

If the Earth is a basket ball, the Sun is a basket ball court 1.5 miles away.

If the Earth is a basket ball, the Moon is a tennis ball 15ft. away.

If the Sun is a basket ball in Chicago, the nearest star is in Phoenix Arizona.

If the Sun is a basket ball, the Earth is a marble 90ft. away.

[Tirian]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfs1t-2rrOM) is a good way to spend a minute and a half repeating the phrase "Holy crap!" at increasingly higher tones.

And the freaky thing is that R136A1, the brightest and heaviest star known that prompted this thread, is only the size of Arcturus.

[Obrysii]

Which means that it is unusually dense, too.

[Eldan]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfs1t-2rrOM) is a good way to spend a minute and a half repeating the phrase "Holy crap!" at increasingly higher tones.

And the freaky thing is that R136A1, the brightest and heaviest star known that prompted this thread, is only the size of Arcturus.

This one goes up to VY Canis Majoris (http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=LsgKp_Vf6wI&feature=related) and has a few size comparisons on the way.

[The Succubus]

Holy son of a cheese grater. o_o

All hail the Blessed Cheese Grater.

In other news, this thread contains some awfully big stars and planets.

[Lord Loss]

This one goes up to VY Canis Majoris (http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=LsgKp_Vf6wI&feature=related) and has a few size comparisons on the way.

Wow. That's a good way to get people to feel insignificant...

Get the reference? Get it?

[Eldan]

... Nope.

What reference?

[The Succubus]

Wow. That's a good way to get people to feel insignificant...

Get the reference? Get it?

I get the reference, now where's my slice of fairy cake?


There's a machine in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe called the Total Perspective Vortex, designed to make people feel utterly insignificant by showing them a map of the entire universe, with a tiny dot saying "You are here". A piece of fairy cake is involved in the extrapolation process.

[Eldan]

Oh, yeah. Of course.

But then, the animation did not have a "you are here" arrow. Instead, it had a "Your sun is here" arrow. :smalltongue:

[Lord Loss]

I was kinda thinking of Monty Python. But that one works a lot better. So let's stick assume I meant that from the beginning. :smallwink:.

[Eldan]

The Universe song? Yeah, that one's great too.

[IonDragon]

ATTENTION: I have something to contribute finally!
Spoilered for width. Someone should turn it on it's side, but I really haven't the drive. {Scrubbed. Please abide by the image size rules.}

[Pyrian]

Sheesh, that's huge.

I actually suspect those images are really quite wrong. The largest of them retain the basic aspect of our own sun, when we have good reason to suspect that the larger red giants simply do not have any recognizable surface, but merely a very deep sort of "atmosphere" like burning haze.

[hamishspence]

How about this one?:

{Scrubbed. Oversized images should be linked to - not posted.}

Still an artist's impression- but it does capture the less clear-cut surface of the red giant.

[Teddy]

There's a machine in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe called the Total Perspective Vortex, designed to make people feel utterly insignificant by showing them a map of the entire universe, with a tiny dot saying "You are here". A piece of fairy cake is involved in the extrapolation process.

Actually, it's not in the Restaurant. IIRC, it's on the planet which billions of years in the future will feature a Restaurant, which will entertain it's guests by displaying the undoing of the Universe. In other words, the planet whose economy was destroyed by shoes.


How about this one?:

{Scrubbed}

Still an artist's impression- but it does capture the less clear-cut surface of the red giant.

Am I the only one who think that the artist intentionally depicted a human brain in the star's surface?

BTW, Hamishspence, you should delete your older post with the broken image link.

[hamishspence]

Done. I thought I'd edited the old post, not created a new one, thanks for mentioning it.

[The Succubus]

Was referring to the book Teddy, not Frogstar World B :smallwink:

With that image you linked Hamish, is that VY Canis Major?

[hamishspence]

Nope- Betelguese. VY Canis Majoris is a lot bigger.

[Teddy]

Was referring to the book Teddy, not Frogstar World B :smallwink:

Now I'm utterly confused. Say what? :smallconfused:

For the record, I've read the entire book series twice - once in Swedish and once in English.

[Pyrian]

How about this one?:
...
Still an artist's impression- but it does capture the less clear-cut surface of the red giant.Maybe? Hard to know for sure! Even that one strikes me as a bit too... Familiar. 'Course, anything unfamiliar is largely speculation.

[Flickerdart]

Maybe? Hard to know for sure! Even that one strikes me as a bit too... Familiar. 'Course, anything unfamiliar is largely speculation.
Having a red giant for a familiar is a little overpowered.

[Eldan]

Not sure if it would be overpowered. It (probably) can't move, it can't ever get close enough to you to profit from shared spells without killing you, it can't use the majority of it's skills, it can't scout for you...

What would you use it for?


Though using Familiar Pocket on it is an awesome idea, thinking about it now.

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Please link to images over 400 pixels wide rather than posting them. Images thousands and tens of thousands are out of bounds, even under spoiler tags. Please review the Forum Rules.