Saturday, January 4, 2014

Supergiant and Hypergiant Stars Compared to our Solar System:

The universe is filled with enormous planets that make the Earth seem like nothing more than a speck of sand on a mountain. We don"t even need to leave our solar system in order to find the behemoths that put our planet to shame. Take Jupiter, for example. This gas giant has 63 moons, some of which are larger than the other planets in the solar system (like the moon Ganymede, which is larger than the planet Mercury). Similarly, the Great Red Spot (Jupiter"s largest storm system) could swallow Earth twice over, while over 1,300 Earths could easily fit inside the planet itself.

To put it mildly, Jupiter is truly enormous. But of course, Jupiter isn"t the reigning king of the solar system. Obviously, that title goes to our star--you could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. That may sound impressive, but (unsurprisingly) there are many stars that dwarf our Sun. In fact, there are stars that dwarf nearly our entire solar system....like Blue Supergiants.

Want to learn about some of the largest stars in the universe? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/supergiant-and-hypergiant-stars-compared-to-our-solar-system/

Image via NASA

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