Stumbled upon this one - Star size comparison

[Vox45]

Quote from the author:

"There are several videos circulating showing a comparison of the largest stars. I like these kind of things, and I wanted to try one myself. Probably because I also watched "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan as a kid. Actually my first Youtube upload. Hope you like it..."

I thought I'd share

I think it's a good reminder of our humble place in the univers

[Craig20264]

Nice find. As usual with the universe, there are far too many naughts for my tiny little brain

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice comparison

[Vox45]

....and don't get me started on distances ! The closest STAR is at 4.22 l.y., that's 40 trillion kilometres (or about 25 trillion miles) how does one can even start to grasp that ?!

[Craig20264]

My stock answer when anyone asks me "Well how far away is that then?" is, "Further than Tescos"!

[Ruud]

Thank you, Vox! That is a great link!

What I particularly like about this video is the music that plays from 0:14 to about 1:30. I recognize it. It is from the sound track of The Black Hole (1979). In the film, the music serves to emphasize the enormousness of the mass and force of the black hole. And an awesome, forceful composition it is!

Mu Cephei, the second largest star in the video, happens to be one of my favourite stars for naked eye and binocular observing. Hershel called it the Garnet star for its colour. It's over 6000 light years away! Similarly huge and distant are the naked eye stars Nu Cephei and Alpha Camelopardalis, though these stars, being white and blue, probably have a much smaller radius than μ Cep.

BTW, I once read (I forget where) that 95% of the Milky Way's stars have a mass smaller than that of the Sun. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Oli]

Thanks! I also recommend watching the black hole one!

[Craig20264]

Thanks! I also recommend watching the black hole one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgNDao7m41M

Thanks for posting. Mind boggling!