VY Canis Majoris

VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest known stars in the universe, classified as a red hypergiant. It is immensely massive—about 1,500 times the radius of the Sun—and incredibly luminous. Located in the constellation Canis Major, it appears as a bright, red, irregularly-shaped star due to its size and aging process. Its size is so vast that if placed in our solar system, it would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Despite its grandeur, VY Canis Majoris is also unstable, shedding large amounts of material into space, which creates complex dust and gas surrounding it.