The Star that Could Swallow Jupiter
from The Creature-Studios Podcast
Today we talk about VY Canis Majoris, an extreme red hypergiant that stretches our understanding of just how massive a star can possibly grow before destroying itself. Located roughly 3,900 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major, this celestial titan is estimated to be around 1,420 times the radius of our Sun. If you placed VY Canis Majoris at the center of our solar system, its outer surface would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter, swallowing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the entire asteroid belt in a single glowing sphere of superheated gas. A passenger jet flying along its equator at 500 mph would take nearly 1,100 years to complete just one full lap. In this episode, we are exploring the chaotic, dying days of a stellar behemoth. VY Canis Majoris is shedding its mass at a staggering rate, blasting giant arcs and knots of gas out into interstellar space, creating a dense, dusty nebula that constantly shrouds the star itself. We'll break down the physics of its eventual death - a cataclysmic hypernova explosion - and look at whether its collapsing core will leave behind a neutron star or instantly breach the threshold to form a stellar-mass black hole. Keep your distance and put on your radiation shields - we’re standing in the shadow of one of the largest stars in the known universe.
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