VY Canis Majoris

VY Canis Majoris (abbreviated to VY CMa) is an extreme oxygen-rich (O-rich) red hypergiant (RHG) or red supergiant (RSG) and pulsating variable star from the Solar System in the slightly southern constellation of Canis Major. It is one of the largest known stars, one of the most luminous and massive red supergiants, and one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. No evidence has been found that it is part of a multiple star system. Its great infrared (IR) excess makes it one of the brightest objects in the local part of the galaxy at wavelengths of 5 to 20 microns (μm) and indicates a dust shell or heated disk. It is about 17 times the mass of the Sun (). It is surrounded by a complex asymmetric circumstellar envelope (CSE) caused by its mass loss. It produces strong molecular maser emission and was one of the first radio masers discovered. VY CMa is embedded in the large molecular cloud Sh2-310, a large, quite local star-forming H II region—its diameter: 480 arcminutes (′) or . The radius of VY CMa is very roughly 1,420 times that of the Sun (), which is close to the modelled maximum, the Hayashi limit, a volume nearly 3 billion times that of the Sun. Taking this mid-point estimate as correct, an object travelling at the speed of light would take 6 hours to go around its surface, compared to 14.5 seconds for the Sun. If this star replaced the Sun its surface would, per this approximation, be beyond the orbit of Jupiter. The first known-recorded observation of VY Canis Majoris is in the star catalogue of the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1801, which lists it as a 7th order of magnitude star. Further quite frequent studies of its apparent magnitude imply the light of the star as viewed from Earth has faded since 1850, which could be due to emission changes or a denser part of its surrounds becoming interposed (extinction). Since 1847, VY Canis Majoris has been described as a crimson star. During the 19th century, observers measured at least six discrete components, suggesting that it might be a multiple star.