What is vy canis majoris

Consecuentely, VY Canis Majoris is the biggest star of the constellation. The Canis Major constellation represents the big hunter dog of Orion, the celestial hunter. It is the home of the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius.

VY Canis Majoris is big enough to explode as a hypernova or superluminous nova. Hypernovas produce considerably higher amounts of energy than regular supernovas. They also produce long-duration gamma-ray bursts, which are among the most energetic events observed in our universe. When it will happen, VY Canis Majoris will explode releasing the energy of more than times that of a supernova, and enormous quantities of gamma rays.

This explosion will not affect Earth as the hypergiant is too far away, but if there are any planets near VY Canis Majoris which host life, it would be completely eradicated. The hypernova explosion is estimated to take place in around After the star explodes, it is speculated that its remaining core will collapse and result in a black hole. VY Canis Majoris is surrounded by a complex asymmetric circumstellar envelope caused by mass loss from the star itself. VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest known stars by radius, luminosity, and mass in regards to typical red giants.

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UTC Offset:. Picture of the Day Image Galleries. Watch : Mining the Moon for rocket fuel. Robinson, Editor in Chief of Sky and Telescope magazine in There is now general agreement that the companions of VY Canis Majoris are bright "knots" in the nebulosity that shrouds the entire system. From observations with telescopes from 36 to inches aperture, Herbig found VY CMa was a relatively well observed star throughout the 19th century, thanks in part to its brightness and redness which makes changes in magnitude more noticeable, but difficult to estimate accurately.

Most of these observations were made with instruments of 6 inches of aperture or less.