Facts And Information You Should Know About UY Scuti

Science Universe
4 min readJun 24, 2021

Introduction :

A star is such an astronomical object with which we all are familiar. In fact the biggest source of energy for earth is our Sun, it is also a star. And we all know how big our sun is compared to Earth.

But did you know ? There are many big stars as compared to our sun, Infront of which our sun is just a dwarf. So, today in this article we are going to talk about a star which is several times bigger than our Sun. And the name of that star is UY Scuti. So, without wasting our time let us start today’s article.

UY Scuti is one of the largest known stars in the universe. It is a red supergiant pulsating variable star.

Original Post : https://astroquantumphysics.com/single.php?post_id=44&=Facts-and-Information-You-Should-Know-about-UY-Scuti

As I have mentioned above, in the present time UY Scuti is one of the largest known stars in the universe.
Now the question is how big is it ? So, let us compare it with our sun.

The radius of our sun is 696,340 km While the radius of UY Scuti is 1,708 times the radius of the Sun.
(Note : The Radius of UY Scuti is 1.1883 billion km)

Mass of UY Scuti :

Nobody knows the actual mass of UY Scuti because , It is very difficult to calculate the mass of such stars which do not have any companion star. But there is an approximate estimation that its mass is between 2–8×1⁰³¹kg.

Temperature of UY Scuti :

It is estimated that the temperature of UY Scuti is approximately 3,365K .

Distance from Earth :

As per Scientists it is estimated that the distance between UY Scuti and Earth is approximately 9,500 light-years.

When was UY Scuti discovered ?

It was 1860 when UY Scuti was discovered by a group of German astronomers at the Bonn Observatory.

Where is UY Scuti Located ?

UY Scuti is located 9,500 light-years from earth in northeast of the Eagle Nebula and a few degrees north of the Gamma Scuti in the Constellation of Scutum.

Supernova of UY Scuti :

As we all know a star goes Supernova when its hydrogen and helium stops fusing. So, this is the basic process of Supernova. As I have mentioned above, UY Scuti is one of the biggest stars.

So, it is obvious that it will go Supernova after millions of years from now. According to astronomers UY Scuti is losing approximately 5.8× 10–5 M? mass per year.

So, we can say after the continuous fusion of hydrogen and helium a day will come when its core will collapse. And it is expected that it will turn into a yellow hypergiant or a Wolf-Rayet star.

How many suns can fit in UY Scuti ?

As we know the radius of UY Scuti is approximately 1,708 times the radius of the Sun. So, after calculating its volume we will get that the volume of UY Scuti is approximately 5 billion times that of the Sun. That means 5 billion Suns can fit into UY Scuti.

Constellation of UY Scuti :

It is located 9,500 light-years from us in the Constellation of Scutum.

Scutum Constellation :

Scutum Constellation, the home of UY Scuti was named by a polish Astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the year of 1684. It is located in the southern celestial hemisphere. The internal shape of this constellation is like a Diamond due to the presence of four brightest stars in the corner.

The Scutum Constellation was discovered in 1922 by the International Astronomical Union. The Brightest star of this Constellation is Alpha Scuti, while the Second Brightest star of this Constellation is Beta Scuti. Scutum Constellation is also home to the Wild Duck Cluster.

UY Scuti Vs Sun :

Size Comparison :
The radius of the Sun is 696,340 km, while the radius of UY Scuti is 1.1883 billion km which is 1,708 times the radius of the Sun.

Mass Comparison :
The mass of the Sun is 1.989 × 10³⁰ kg, while the mass of UY Scuti is 2–8×1⁰³¹kg which is approximately 30 times the mass of the Sun.

Temperature Comparison:
The Temperature of the Sun is 5,778 K, while the Temperature of UY Scuti is 3,365 K.

Surface Gravity Comparison:
The Surface Gravity of the Sun is 274 m/s²,while the Surface Gravity of UY Scuti is 0.003162 m/s².

Luminosity Comparison :
The Luminosity of the Sun is 3.828×1026 W,while the Luminosity of UY Scuti is 340,000 times the Luminosity of the Sun.

Facts about UY Scuti :

• UY Scuti is the 38th Variable star of the Scutum Constellation.
• Suppose we have a Spacecraft and we are Travelling with the speed of light around the Sun. Then it will take just 14.5 seconds for the complete revolution around the Sun, While if we are revolving around UY Scuti then it will take 7 hours for the complete revolution around the UY Scuti. Now you can imagine how big UY Scuti is.

About the Post :

We saw how big UY Scuti is as compared to our Sun and also So, Far we have learnt many things about UY Scuti in today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading today’s article. So, that’s it for today, see you in the next article. Have a good day.

Originally Posted on : astroquantumphysics.com

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Science Universe

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