Stephenson 2-18
Stephenson 2-18 is possibly the largest known star. If it was placed in the middle of our Solar System, it would be bigger than the orbit of Saturn.
The brightest star in the middle of this image is Stephenson 2-18
Credit: Universite de Strasbourg/CNRS
Facts About Stephenson 2-18:
- Stephenson 2-18 is a red supergiant star.
- It is located in an open star cluster called Stephenson 2. This cluster contains at least 26 red supergiant stars.
- It appears to be located near the closest end of the "bar" in the middle of the Milky Way galaxy.
- We aren't sure of the exact size or brightness of this star. Different ways of measuring its properties give us different answers. It certainly does appear to be one the biggest, perhaps the biggest, of all the known stars.
Classification: Star, Red supergiant
Names: Stephenson 2-18, St2-18, Stephenson 2 DFK 1, RSGC2-18
Constellation: ScutumDistance: 1.79e+17 km (18900 ly)
Magnitude: 15.2631 (app)
Diameter: 2980000000 km
Surface Temperature: 3200 K