🪐 15 Amazing Facts About Saturn and Its Rings for Kids

🔭 What is the Biggest Star in the Universe? (Prepare to Be Amazed!)

Have you ever looked at the Sun and thought, "Wow, that's huge!"? Our Sun is enormous—it's bigger than a million Earths! But guess what? In the giant playground of space, our Sun is actually pretty small. Astronomers are always looking for the next biggest star in the universe, and the current champion is so big it's hard to imagine!

Get ready to shrink the Sun down to size as we meet the real giants of the cosmos!

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1. Our Sun: The Mighty Middleweight

Our Sun, the star that keeps us warm and gives us light, is considered a Yellow Dwarf. It’s the perfect size for our Solar System, but when you zoom out, it doesn't even come close to the biggest stars. First, let's see how our Sun stacks up against a known supergiant:

The Sun is massive, but it's tiny compared to the supergiant Betelgeuse! If Betelgeuse were in our solar system, it would swallow all the inner planets up to Mars. (Image: GNK Kids Books)

**Earth is tiny!** Compared to our Sun, Earth is just a speck of dust. But even our massive Sun is dwarfed by a well-known star like **Betelgeuse**, a red supergiant. If Betelgeuse replaced our Sun, it would swallow Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars! The difference in size is absolutely astonishing.

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2. The Biggest Star Champion: Stephenson 2-18

So, what is the current record holder for the largest star known to humankind? Meet **Stephenson 2-18** (or S2-18)!

• It is classified as a **Red Supergiant** or sometimes a **Red Hypergiant**.
• It is located in the **Scutum** constellation.
• The star is believed to be about **20,000 light-years** away from Earth—that's a HUGE distance!

To try and wrap your mind around its size, let's look at a graphic that truly shows the scale:

The reigning champion! Stephenson 2-18 is over 2,000 times the size of our Sun, making it the biggest star known to astronomers. It’s hard to imagine that level of giant!

**The reigning champion!** Stephenson 2-18 is currently estimated to be nearly **2,150 times larger** than our Sun! If you could travel at the speed of light, it would take **9 hours** to fly around the circumference of S2-18, compared to just 14.5 seconds for the Sun. It is the reigning champion of the **biggest stars**!

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3. Looking Up at Scutum

The **Scutum constellation** is where we can find this behemoth star. Although you can't see Stephenson 2-18 with your naked eye because it is so far away, you can find its constellation if you know where to look! It sits right next to the famous **Sagittarius** constellation (which looks like a teapot).

Every time you look up at the night sky, remember that deep inside the shield of Scutum, a massive star is shining!

The vast universe is still full of surprises! The biggest star, S2-18, is found in the distant constellation of Scutum (The Shield). Imagine how many other mysterious, colossal stars are still waiting to be discovered!

The vast universe is still full of surprises! The biggest star, S2-18, is found in the distant constellation of Scutum (The Shield). Imagine how many other mysterious, colossal stars are still waiting to be discovered!

**The vast universe is still full of surprises!** The biggest star, S2-18, is found in the distant constellation of Scutum (The Shield). Imagine how many other mysterious, colossal stars are still waiting to be discovered!

Want more mind-blowing facts about space? Keep exploring with GNK Kids Books!