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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for June 7, 1999
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What's the largest known star?
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The largest known star is VV Cephei, a "red supergiant" in the
constellation Cepheus. VV Cephei's diameter is 17.7 times the size of
Earth's orbit. If it were put in the center of our solar system in
place of the sun, it would extend almost to the orbit of Saturn, and
it would swallow up Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.
Like other supergiant stars, VV Cephei is a deep red color. It's also
known as the "garnet star." It has a small companion star that
circles it every 20.4 years. During one part of its orbit, the
companion is hidden for about 1,000 days, and accurate measurement of
that time makes it possible to calculate the main star's diameter.
VV Cephei is a massive star near the end of its life cycle.
Astronomers believe that one day in the next million years or so it
will explode into a supernova, releasing vast amounts of energy and
leaving behind a tiny but massive black hole or neutron star.
Full-disk image of Betelgeuse, another red supergiant star:
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~art511_i/nexar/star.html
More about the evolution of stars:
http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/star.htm
More Cool Facts about stars:
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/02/05.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/05/01.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/05/15.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1998/10/15.html
http://www.cool-fact.com/archive/1999/03/19.html
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