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Asked by 0jcary to Alexander, Josh, Serena, Simone, Stuart on 17 Jun 2013.
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Stuart Archer answered on 17 Jun 2013:
The most accurate answer astronomers have right now is star called Eta Carinae, 250 times wider than the Sun, 120 times heavier and about 7,500 light years away.
It’s 350 million kilometers in diamater, which to give you an idea is more than twice the distance from the Earth to the Sun!
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Josh Makepeace answered on 18 Jun 2013:
I like your question! It’s great to think about the biggest and smallest things in the Universe!
Just to add to what Stu has said, astronomers think that Eta Carinae should explode as a supernova some time very soon. They predict that when it does, the light that reaches the Earth will be about as bright as the moon, and you’ll be able to see it during the day, also. How cool would that be?!
There’s a cool article about the different sizes of stars in the Universe here:
http://www.universetoday.com/13507/what-is-the-biggest-star-in-the-universe/
Comments
theantihiggs commented on :
The diameter of the largest known star (largest diameter that is!) is around 2295150000 kilometers in diameter or around 1650 times the diameter of the sun!