Where does the sun fit in here?

[flobadob]

I saw this image once showing the size of the sun. Now there is a new star found. What size is it on this scale?
The scale of sun http://www.brevardast...erseScale/photo5.html
New star found http://news.yahoo.com.../eu_most_massive_star

[mibn2cweus]

Larger than Arcturus http://en.wikipedia.o...ile:Arcturus-star.jpg

Smaller than Aldebaran http://en.wikipedia.o...Sun_comparison-en.svg

Aldebaran and Arcturus have roughly the same mass as our Sun.

While R136a1 is about 35 times bigger it has about 300 times the mass of our Sun and is millions of times brighter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R136a1

[mibn2cweus]

By the way, with respect to star size, they don't get much bigger than this:
http://en.wikipedia.o...:Vy-canis-majoris.jpg

[flobadob]

So is the new star R136a1 bigger than Vy-canis-majoris?

[Hatchetfacehelga]

All I can say is wow mibn2cweus! How big is that star compared to the sun exactly? Its really hard to get a prospective properly with these sizes!

[mibn2cweus]

"So is the new star R136a1 bigger than Vy-canis-majoris?"

Not by a long shot. See first answer.

It just has more stuff in a much smaller package, still ~35 times wider than our Sun. As they say, "Size isn't everything". . . erm, don't ask me how I know that!

[mibn2cweus]

Hatchetfacehelga, According to Wikipedia, VY Canis Majoris is about 2000 Suns wide.

http://en.wikipedia.o...VY_Canis_Majoris#Size

[flobadob]

That image of the star sizes http://en.wikipedia.o...i/File:Star-sizes.jpg is just mind-boggling.

[jomifl]

The illustrations of the new giant star shown on the media were ridiculously misleading because the media people seemed not to be aware that stars are 3 dimensional. So assuming the same density as our sun it would only be 6.7 times the diameter, but could be smaller owing to gravitational forces or bigger owing to higher temperature. Take your pick as it is not yet possible to measure its diameter.

[Jack130]

Uh,both I thank?