The Sun as a single pixel

euan · (#1 (**permalink**))

I hope you have a big screen and like scrolling!!

MarkF · (#2 (**permalink**))

WOW!!!!!!

kris h · (#3 (**permalink**))

That is Awsome i didnt even see all the other ones how big would that new star R136a1 be on that scale

it took me a minute to find the text box this page is huge

Si W · (#4 (**permalink**))

It make's are sun look so insignificant......

klytus · (#5 (**permalink**))

Fantastic, can't wait to show my wife and nephew.Think they will be somewhat gobsmacked when they see it.

nitram100 · (#6 (**permalink**))

Lost for words. Pics like this really put things into perspective for me and remind me how small we really are.

I also love the hubble deep field image from Ursa Major, simply breathtaking.

Timi09 · (#7 (**permalink**))

Oh dear, I just wet myself :P

I mean where would we be on that scale as a person(incomprehensibly small) i'm always amazed at how small and insignificant we really are, and how we can still look upon such great things.

I think we forget just how amazing the discoveries we have made as mankind are!

thanks for a great post

Earl_UK · (#8 (**permalink**))

R136a afaik is about midway but much denser.

GJBC · (#9 (**permalink**))

Wow I do a talk to the public where I show the size difference of the stars that slide is going in there straight away

thanks for the heads up

Grahame

Macavity · (#10 (**permalink**))

Always sets me wondering what these stars do look like close-up.
Do the features (sunspots, prominences etc.) get bigger with the
star or are there just more of them. Always like the artwork tho'.

SlySi84 · (#11 (**permalink**))

A brilliant image that. Just showed it to my wife and son who both sat there with their mouths wide open......

I wouldnt want to be around when VY Canis Major goes pop.

brantuk · (#12 (**permalink**))

Awesome when you think the earth is "pea sized" alongside our sun

Ben Ritchie · (#13 (**permalink**))

Just spotted this, great image.

Quote:

That is Awsome i didnt even see all the other ones how big would that new star R136a1 be on that scale

Crowther's paper gives a radius of ~35 times that of the sun, so it's actually rather small in these terms.

Quote:

Always sets me wondering what these stars do look like close-up.

The largest stars probably aren't spherical - both red supergiants and yellow hypergiants look to be non-radial pulsators (see Astronomy at Vienna University » Research for example) and have very low surface gravities so are barely holding themselves together against radiation pressure. They're also losing mass at huge rates, as much as a solar mass every thousand to ten-thousand years, to the extent that the wind is opaque at at least some wavelengths and it's somewhat debatable where the edge of the star is - if you measure stellar radii with interferometry you get different answers depending on the wavelength you pick.