• Question: What is the coldest and biggest star

    Asked by tucky to Douglas on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Douglas Blane

      Douglas Blane answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Biggest star we know of is called VY Canis Majoris. But there will be others bigger than that.

      I really like this image that shows you the different sizes of stars and planets going from Mercury all the way up to VY Canis Majoris. There’s such an unbelievably huge range.

      It was looking at pictures like that that got me into science in the first place. I just couldn’t believe the size of the universe and the things that are in it.

      Coldest star is any of them once they’ve burnt all their nuclear fuel. Because what happens then is they cool down, to pretty much the temperature of space itself. Which is pretty chilly.

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