UY Scuti vs VY Canis Majoris Star Comparison : Planets Education

Do you know, how big is our Sun? Just for comparison, almost 1300000 Earths can fit inside our Sun. And our Sun is a star. According to an estimation, there are 100 billion galaxies in our universe and each galaxy has almost 100 billion stars.

Some stars are big and some are small. But our Sun is a medium-size type star. But, UY Scuti and VY Canis Majoris are two large stars. So, here you will know some comparisons between UY Scuti vs VY Canis Majoris star.

There are other large stars in our Universe. But these stars are quite famous because they were considered to be the largest known star in the past.

Scientists always search for new stars or they adopt better methods to calculate the size of stars. So, sometimes the rank gets varied. And now the largest star of the Universe is Stephenson 2-18.

Check About:- All About the Biggest Star Stephenson 2-18

Before comparing the UY Scuti and VY Canis Majoris sizes, we will know about them separately.

UY Scuti Star

UY Scuti is a red supergiant type star that existed in the constellation “Scutum”. The distance of this star from the earth is approximately 9,500 light-years (2.9 kiloparsecs). It is one of the largest known stars, though it is quite small compared to the Stephenson 2-18.

Must Read:- Types of Stars

Still, it is the second-largest known star (at the time of writing this article). Though the list of the largest stars usually changes, either due to new discoveries or new methods to determine the size.

UY Scuti vs Sun

Comparing UY Scuti with our Sun, if we replace the Sun with UY Scuti in our solar system then its photosphere would engulf the orbital path of Jupiter. And, as a result, almost all the objects would collapse into the UY Scuti star.

VY Canis Majoris Star

VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest, most massive, and most luminous known stars in the milky way galaxy. It was so big that scientists used to think it is a member of the multiple-star system. But there is no evidence that proves it is a multiple-star system, so only this alone gives whole brightness.

VY Canis Majoris vs Sun

Compared to VY Canis Majoris with our Sun, if we consider an object at the surface of the sun traveling with the speed of light then it would take around 14.5 seconds to go around the Sun’s surface (to cover its circumference). But, if the object is on the surface of VY Canis Majoris Star then it would take around 6 hours to go around its surface.

Must Check:- The Sun: Interesting Information and Top Facts

UY Scuti vs VY Canis Majoris

Both UY Scuti and VY Canis Majoris are some of the biggest stars of our galaxy milky way. Though UY Scuti compared to VY Canis Majoris is larger.

Just for a size comparison between UY Scuti vs VY Canis Majoris:

UY Scuti Star Radius – (1700 ± 200) solar radii.

Minimum radius = 1500 Solar radii,
Maxmimum radius = 1900 Solar radii.

VY Canis Majoris Star Radius – (1420 ± 120) solar radii.

Minimum radius = 1300 Solar radii,
Maximum radius = 1540 Solar radii.

A Solar Radii is the radius of the sun (696,340 km/432,685 mi). Hence if we consider the average size then star UY Scuti (UY Sct) is almost 20% larger than VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa).

It becomes very difficult to determine the exact size of a distant object. But, scientists give the near-about size of any distant stars. If we consider a minimum radius of UY Scuti and the Maximum of VY Canis Majoris then VY Canis Majoris would be bigger.

“According to volume, UY Scuti is almost 5 billion times the sun. So, 5 billion Sun-size stars can fit inside UY Scuti. Whereas, almost 3 billion Sun size star can fit inside of VY Canis Majoris.”

While comparing the mass between both the stars:

UY Scuti Star Mass – 7-10 times of Sun Mass.

VY Canis Majoris Mass – 17±8 times Sun Mass.

The UY Scuti is bigger than VY Canis Majoris in comparison to diameter. But scientists believe, the mass of the VY Canis Majoris is more than UY Scuti.