How far away is Canis Major Dwarf in light years?

Answer 1

VY Canis Majoris has a radius about 2,100 times that of the Sun.

This means that about 9 billion Suns could fit inside it.

See related link for a picture of the difference in size.

Answer 2

VY Canis Majoris is about 2,100 solar radii, it is possibly the largest known star and also one of the most luminous known. It is located about 1.5 kiloparsecs (4.6×1016 km) or about 4,900 light years away from Earth.

According to statistics and working out the distance light can travel in one year, I calculated that VY Canis Majoris is 46,357,579,315,645,920 Kilometers from Earth, the issue now is trying to break down that number, as it greatly exceeds trillions but if it were to be thought of, the distance would be something like Forty six thousand trillion, five hundred and seventy nine billion, three hundred and fifteen million, six hundred and forty five thousand, nine hundred and twenty kilometers.

Another thought is no human space craft now or in the near or distant future could ever travel that amount of distance, and so you would need to either stare at this oversized star through a very powerful telescope or in theory either teleport or open a worm hole to this star system.

Answer 3

No it is not. Even though it would take 1,000,000,000 suns to fill it up, or 1,000,000,000,000,000 earths, vy canis majoris is not the biggest thing. It is only a tiny drop compared to the vast collections of stars forming galaxys and the galays forming the observable universe.

Answer 4

• VY Canis Majoris has a radius of about 2,100 solar radii.
• Antares has a radius of about 800 solar radii.

So Vy Canis Majoris is about 2.625 times larger than Antares.

See related links for a pictorial of the size difference.

Answer 5

It doesn't make sense to talk about the "weight" of astronomical objects. The question should therefore be, "how massive is it".

Widipedia lists a value of 30-40 times the mass of the Sun. This is most likely an estimate (or several estimates); perhaps the value will be known with greater precision in the future.

Answer 6

We really can't explain it; if our fundamental understanding of physics is correct, then it shouldn't be possible for a star that large to exist. Which leaves us two options;

1. Our fundamental understanding of physics is wrong, or
2. VY Canis Majoris isn't really as massive as it seems to be.

Either explanation may be correct.

Answer 7

VY Canis Majoris has a mass of about 15 to 25 times that of our own Sun.

During it's main sequence it would have had a mass of about 30 to 40 times that of our own Sun.

Answer 8

Canis majoris is about 4900 light years away

Answer 9

Yes there is a bigger star than VY Canis Majoris.....but no scientists discovered it yet, and they probably wont anytime soon, because VY Canis Majoris is very very far away.

Answer 10

Zeta Canis Majoris (Furud or Phurud) is a binary system in the constellation Canis Major.

It is approximately 336 light years from us.