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> Hypergiant star HR 5171

Hypergiant star HR 5171

author: ESO/DSS2/Novapix

reference: a-eto02-00080

Image Size 300 DPI: 62 * 46 cm

HR 5171, the brightest star just below the centre of this wide-field image, is a yellow hypergiant, a very rare type of stars with only a dozen known in our galaxy. Its size is over 1300 times that of the Sun — one of the ten largest stars found so far. Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer have shown that it is actually a double star, with the companion in contact with the main star.

Keywords for this photo:

2014 - ASTRONOMY - BINARY STAR - CENTAURUS - CONTACT BINARY - DSS - HR 5171 - HYPERGIANT - MASSIVE STAR - STAR -