Date: Saturday, June 08, 2002
WHAT IS THE LARGEST KNOWN STAR IN OUR UNIVERSE --
I READ SOMEWHERE (NEWSPAPER) THAT A STAR WAS
DISCOVERED THAT ITS DIAMETER WAS MEASURED IN LIGHT YEARS.
The term "largest" is ambiguous because it could mean diameter, mass,
output of visible radiation, or output of total radiation, and so on. The
largest star I could find is called the Pistol Star because that is the
constellation where it is located in the constellation "Pistol". NASA
reports it is ten million (10^7) times brighter than the Sun, and a mass of
approximately 100 times of the Sun.
You can track this down further, and learn a lot of other interesting
astronomy, by searching the NASA home page and the HUBBLE TELESCOPE home
page and follow the links you find there.
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Update: June 2012