The diameter of the largest star in the universe. The biggest star in the universe
Myriads of stars dot the night sky. And to a person from Earth, they seem exactly the same. Well, in some parts of the sky, for example, in the area milky way, the stars merge into luminous streams.
This is because there is an incredibly huge number of stars in the universe.
In fact, there are so many of them that even the knowledge of modern researchers, which was obtained using the latest equipment (by the way, it allows you to look into space at 9 billion light years) is not enough.
Now there are about 50 billion stars in the depths of space. And every day the figure is only growing, because scientists do not get tired of exploring space and making new discoveries.
brighter than the sun
All stars in the universe have different diameters. And even our Sun is not the largest star, however, not a small one either. She has 1,391,000 kilometers in diameter. There are more significant stars in the Universe, they are called hypergiants. For a long time, VY, which is located in the constellation Canis Major, was considered the largest star. Not so long ago, the radius of the star was refined - and approximately ranges from 1300 to 1540 solar radii. The diameter of this supergiant is about 2 billion kilometers. VY is located 5 thousand light years from the solar system.
Scientists have calculated to imagine how gigantic it is, one revolution around a hypergiant star will take 1200 years, and then if you fly at a speed of 800 kilometers per hour. Or, if we reduce the Earth to 1 centimeter and also proportionally reduce VY, then the size of the latter will be 2.2 kilometers.
The mass of this star is not so impressive. VY is only 40 times heavier than the Sun. This happened because the density of gases inside it is incredibly low. Well, the brightness of the star can only be admired. It shines 500 thousand times stronger than our heavenly body.
The first observations of VY that were recorded are in the star catalog of Joseph Jérôme de Lalande. The information is dated March 7, 1801. Scientists pointed out that VY is a star of the seventh magnitude.
But in 1847, information appeared that VY had a crimson hue. In the nineteenth century, researchers discovered that the star has at least six discrete components, so it is likely a multiple star. But now it turned out that the discrete components are nothing more than bright patches of the nebula that surrounds the hypergiant. In 1957, visual observations and high-quality images from 1998 showed that VY was missing a companion star.
However, by our time, the largest star in the universe has already managed to lose more than half of its mass. That is, the star is aging and its hydrogen fuel is already running out. The outer part of VY has become larger due to the fact that gravity can no longer prevent weight loss. Scientists say that when the fuel of a star runs out, it will most likely explode in a supernova and turn into neutron star or a black hole. According to observations, the star has been losing its brightness since 1850.
Lost leadership
However, scientists do not leave the study of the Universe for a minute. Therefore, this record was broken. Astronomers have found an even bigger star in the vastness of space. The discovery was made by a group of British scientists led by Paul Crowther at the end of the summer of 2010.
The researchers studied the Large Magellanic Cloud and found the star R136a1. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope helped make an incredible discovery.
The giant in its mass is 256 times larger than our Sun. But in terms of brightness, R136a1 exceeds the celestial body by ten million times. Such fantastic figures were a revelation for scientists, because it was believed that stars that exceed the mass of the Sun by more than 150 times do not exist.
And continuing to explore the clusters of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, experts have found several more stars that have exceeded this milestone. Well, R136a1 turned out to be a real record holder. The most interesting thing is that throughout their existence, stars lose their mass. At least, such statements are made by scientists. And R136a1 has now lost one-fifth of its original mass. According to calculations, it was equal to 320 solar masses.
By the way, according to experts, if such a star is presented in our Galaxy, it would be brighter than the Sun as much as the Sun is brighter than the Moon.
Record-breaking stars
But the brightest in the visible sky are the stars Rigel and Deneb from the constellations Orion and Cygnus, respectively. Each shines brighter than the Sun 55 thousand times and 72.5 thousand times. These luminaries are removed from us by 1600 and 820 light years.
Another bright star from the constellation Orion is the star Betelgeuse. It is the third largest luminosity. She's brighter sunlight by the strength of light emission by 22 thousand times. By the way, most of the brightest stars are collected in Orion, although their brightness changes periodically.
But the brightest among the stars closest to Earth is Sirius from the constellation Canis Major. It shines brighter than our Sun only 23.5 times. And the distance to this star is 8.6 light years. In the same constellation there is another bright star - Adara. This star shines like 8700 Suns combined at a distance of 650 light years. well and polar Star, which many incorrectly consider the brightest visible star, shines 6 thousand times brighter than the Sun. The polar star is at the tip Ursa Minor and is 780 light-years from Earth.
If instead of the Sun there were other stars and planets
It is noteworthy that astronomers single out the zodiac constellation Taurus from the total mass. It contains an unusual star, which is distinguished by a supergiant density and a rather small spherical magnitude. According to astrophysicists, it mainly consists of fast neutrons that fly apart. It was once the brightest star in the universe.
Star R136a1 and the Sun
Big luminosity, scientists say, have blue stars. The brightest known is UW CMa. It is 860 thousand times brighter than our heavenly body. But this figure is rapidly falling, as the brightness of the stars changes over time. For example, according to the chronicle, which is dated July 4, 1054, the brightest star was in the constellation Taurus, it could be seen in the sky with the naked eye even in the middle of the day. But over time, the star began to fade and after a while it disappeared altogether. And in the place where she shone, a nebula formed, which looked like a crab. Hence the name Crab Nebula. It appeared after a supernova explosion. By the way, modern scientists have found a powerful source of radio emission in the center of this nebula, in other words, a pulsar. This is the remnant of that bright supernova, which was described in the old chronicle.
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With the naked eye, a person can see up to 6 thousand stars in the sky, given both hemispheres. If we take into account the most powerful and complex telescopes, then over the years of space exploration, we have found billions of stars in the abyss of space, among which there are those whose dimensions are beyond imagination.
We are surprised when we compare the sizes of our Earth and the Sun, but the Universe hides in itself the largest stars, which are thousands of times larger than ours. Let's do our favorite thing - size comparison. It is customary to take the equatorial solar radius as a unit of measurement.
1. UY Shield
UY Shield is the absolute record holder in size among all the stars known to us on this moment. It is located at a distance of 9500 light years from us. The radius of the largest star is equal to 1708 radii of our Sun, and during active pulsations it reaches 2298 radii. If this monster were located in our system, its photosphere (visible disk) would reach the orbit of Jupiter.
Next to UY Shield, the Sun would not even seem like a dwarf - a speck of dust. This star is very bright, but it cannot be seen with the naked eye due to its large thickness. space dust between us and this hypergiant.
2. NML Cygnus
Another red hypergiant, which is located in the constellation Cygnus, received the corresponding name - NML Cygnus. On the picture star cluster, which contains this supermassive star. Its radius is equal to 1650 radii of our Sun, and it is 5300 light years away from us.
Compared to UY Shield, NML Cygnus was discovered relatively recently - in 1965. Since then, scientists have even managed to analyze the composition of the star using spectral analysis. As for her size, it's good that she's so far away.
3. RW Cephei
Looking at these giants, it is easy to earn an inferiority complex. Third on our list of the most big stars went to the red hypergiant RW Cephei, located in the constellation of the same name. This star is 11,500 light years away from us, and despite its size, you are unlikely to be able to see it with the naked eye. But there is a chance to see this monster in the night sky with an amateur telescope.
The RW radius of Cephei is 1636 solar at its peak pulsation. And it rushes towards our Sun at a speed of 56 km / s. It sounds menacing, but by cosmic standards it's like standing still. Scientists predict her future in the form of another black hole.
4. WOH G64
Interesting things happen to them there in space. For example, the fourth largest in the list of the largest stars WOH G64 is located at a distance of 163 thousand light years from us. The word "huge" for such a distance does not mean anything, however, our scientists managed to find out some facts about this luminary that make this star special. According to recent studies, its radius is 1540 solar, but the luminosity is not very high.
With the help of a powerful telescope located in Chile, it turned out that around the star WOH G64 there is a large accumulation of gas and dust, which form a so-called torus around it (call it a donut).
5. Westerland 1-26
Scientists are also not devoid of romantic thinking, and are ready to give eloquent names to their discoveries. So in the Westerland 1 cluster in the constellation Altar there is another red supergiant called Westerland 1-26. It is 11,500 light-years away from our system. The radius of the star is 1530 solar, and its luminosity is 380,000 times stronger than that of the Sun.
The system was discovered in 1961, but the creative fuse of the scientists ended, and they simply began to name the stars in that system by numbers.
Determining the largest star in the universe, its size and mass has always been not easy for scientists. The angular sizes of stars are so small that even in the most large telescopes it is not possible to see stars in the form of round disks. Accordingly, the sizes of stars even in the largest telescope cannot be determined. Scientists have learned to determine the size of the largest stars based on the three most famous methods:
- Observing the eclipse of the Earth's satellite - the Moon, scientists have learned to determine the angular size, and, knowing the distance to the object, you can determine its true, linear dimensions;
- The size of a star can be determined using special stellar optical interferometers. The principle of operation of these devices is based on the interference of starlight, which is reflected by a pair of widely spaced mirrors.
- It is also possible to calculate the size of a star theoretically, based on estimates of the total luminosity and temperature of stars according to the Stefan–Boltzmann law. The luminosity of a star is related to the radius of a star by the formula L = ?T4 4?R2 or
This method allows you to find the radius of a star from its temperature and luminosity, since the parameters R , L and T are known.
What is a star?
Star - glowing gas (plasma) heavenly body, formed from a gas-dust environment in which thermonuclear reactions take place.
The sun - a typical dwarf star of the spectral type G2, with a radius of 696 thousand km.
The largest star belongs to the class of red hypergiants, although the difficulty in determining the exact size of most stars means that it cannot be said with great certainty which star is the largest in the universe.
Red hypergiants are stars in the most recent stage of evolution. When the supply of hydrogen used as a source nuclear energy in the central part of the star's core, begins to deplete, the stage of internal changes begins, as a result of which the outer layers of the star expand greatly. The red hypergiant consists of a vast shell of very rarefied gas surrounding the central core of the star.
Hypergiants - these are stars of enormous size and mass, having on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (the diagram shows the relationship between the absolute stellar magnitude, spectral class, luminosity, and temperature of the surface of the star) luminosity class 0, hypergiant stars are defined as the most powerful, heaviest, brightest and at the same time the rarest and shortest-lived supergiants.
What is considered the largest star in the universe?
As a unit for measuring the radius of stars, the equatorial radius of the Sun is used - 695,500 km.
As mentioned above, it is difficult to determine the exact size order of the largest stars, because. many large stars have extended atmospheres and opaque dust shells and disks, or even pulsate.
In the very first place in a number of the largest stars in the universe is the star
VY Canis Major(lat. VY Canis Majoris, VY CMa). The distance from Earth to the largest star in the universe VY Canis Majoris is approximately 5000 light years. The radius of the star was determined in 2005 and is in the range of 1800-2100 solar radii. The mass of the largest star is ~15-25 solar masses.
The second place of the largest stars in space belongs to the star WOH G64 located in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The radius is 1738 solar radii.
In third place is a large star VV Cephei A, with a radius of 1600-1900 radii of the Sun.
In fourth place is a star Mu Cephei(? Cep / ? Cephei), better known as Herschel's Garnet Star, is a red supergiant located in the constellation Cepheus. The radius of the star is 1650 radii of the star named Sun.
The fifth place is occupied by a star KY Swan- a star located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of about 5153 light years from us. This is one of the largest stars known to science. Radius 1420 solar radii. 
The ratio of the sizes of the planets of the solar system and some well-known stars, including VY Canis Major:
1.Mercury
5. Aldebaran
6.Betelgeuse
What is the heaviest (massive) star in the universe?
On June 21, 2010, astronomers led by Paul Crowther, professor of astrophysics at the University of Sheffield, in a study huge amount clusters of stars, discovered a star, the mass of which in many respects exceeds the mass of the Sun.
Scientists have discovered several stars with surface temperatures in excess of 40,000 degrees. This is more than seven times hotter than the temperature of the Sun and several million times brighter. Some of these stars were born with masses over 150 solar masses.
The heaviest star has been named R136a1, from the RMC 136a cluster (better known as R136), a cluster of young, massive and hottest stars, located inside the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 165,000 light-years from planet Earth. The R136a1 star is one of the most powerful stars in the universe, 10 million times more luminous than the Sun. R136a1 has a mass of 265 solar masses and a radius of 67 solar radii.
What is the closest star to the solar system?
The closest star to Earth after the Sun is Proxima Centauri, which is 4.243±0.002 light-years from Earth, which is 270,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star orbiting the Alpha Centauri system.
The mass of Proxima Centauri is 0.123 ± 0.006 solar masses, which is 7 times less than the mass of the Sun and 150 times more than the mass of the planet Jupiter. Age 4.85?109 years. Temperature 3042 ± 117 K. Radius 0.145 ± 0.011 solar radii, i.e. the actual diameter is 7 times smaller than the diameter of the Sun's star and only 1.5 times the diameter of the planet Jupiter.
What is the brightest star in the night sky?
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, from the constellation Canis Major. The star Sirius can be observed from almost any region of the Earth, with the exception of only its northernmost regions. Sirius is one of the closest stars to us and is only 8.6 light-years away from the solar system. The brightness of Sirius exceeds the brightness of the Sun by 23 times. Initially, Sirius consisted of two most powerful blue stars of spectral class A, now the age of this double star about 230 million years.
The brightest star in the universe is the star Pollux in the constellation Gemini. Although it is very difficult to determine the brightest star. Also in the list of the brightest stars, the following stars compete: Shaula (the constellation of Scorpio); Gacrux (constellation of the Southern Cross); Castor (in the constellation of Gemini). The Pistol Star is one of the most bright stars in our galaxy. The luminosity of the Pistol star exceeds 1.7 million luminosities of the Sun, i.е. in 20 seconds, the Pistol star emits as much light as the Sun emits in a whole year.
What is the largest star in the universe?
Determining the largest star in the universe, its size and mass has always been not easy for scientists. The angular dimensions of the stars are so small that even the largest telescopes fail to see stars in the form of round disks. Accordingly, the sizes of stars even in the largest telescope cannot be determined. Scientists have learned to determine the size of the largest stars based on ...
Look at the night sky and see that it is filled with stars. But with the naked eye, only a microscopic fraction of them can be seen. There are up to 100 billion stars in a galaxy alone, and there are even more galaxies in the universe. Astronomers believe that there are about 10^24 stars in the world. These powerful power plants come in a variety of colors and sizes - and next to many of them, our Sun looks like a crumb. But which star will be the true giant of the heavens? It’s worth starting with a definition of what we mean by a giant. Will it be the star with the largest radius, for example, or the one with the largest mass?
galactic giants
The star with the largest radius is probably UY Scuti, a bright variable supergiant in the constellation Scutum. Located 9500 light-years from Earth and made of hydrogen, helium and other heavier elements, almost the composition of our Sun, this star in radius bypasses it in 1708 (plus or minus 192) times.
The circumference of the star is about 7.5 billion kilometers. You would have to fly a plane for 950 years to completely circle it - and even light would take six hours and 55 minutes. If we replaced our Sun with this, its surface would be somewhere between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Of course, the Earth would not exist then.
Considering its enormous size and a possible mass of 20-40 times that of the Sun (2-8×10³¹kg), UY Scutum would have a density of 7×10⁻⁶ kg/m³. In other words, it is billions of times less than the density of water.
Basically, if you put this star in the largest water bath in the universe, it would theoretically float. Being a million times less dense than the Earth's atmosphere at room temperature, it would also hang in the air like a balloon - if, of course, there was enough space for it.
But if these incredible facts already managed to surprise you, we haven't even started yet. UY Shield is certainly a big star, but far from being a heavyweight. The King of the Heavyweights is the star R136a1, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 165,000 light years away.
Massive attack
This star, a sphere of hydrogen, helium and heavier elements, is not much larger than the Sun, 35 times its radius, but it is 265 times more massive - which is remarkable, given that in 1.5 million years of its life it has already lost 55 solar masses.
The type of Wolf-Rayet stars is far from stable. They look like a blurry blue sphere without a clear surface, blowing incredibly powerful stellar winds. Such winds travel at 2,600 km/s, 65 times faster than the Juno probe, the fastest man-made object.
As a result, the star loses mass at a rate of 3.21×10¹⁸ kg/s, equivalent to Earth's loss in 22 days.
These space rock stars burn out quickly and die quickly. R136a1 radiates nine million times more energy than our Sun and would appear 94,000 times brighter than the Sun to our eyes if it took its place. In fact, it is the brightest star ever discovered.
its surface is over 53,000 degrees Celsius (), and such a star will live no more than two million years. Her death will be marked by a colossal supernova explosion, which will not even leave a black hole behind.
Of course, next to such giants, our Sun looks insignificant, but, again, it will also grow as it ages. In about seven and a half billion years, it will reach its maximum size and become a red giant, expanding so that the current orbit of the Earth will be inside the star.
And yet we found these stars by studying only a small fraction of the universe. What other miracles await us?
My six year old daughter is a questioning machine. A couple of days ago we were driving from school and she was asking me about nature. One of her questions was, " What is the largest star in the universe?" I gave a simple answer. "The universe is a big place," I said, "and there is no way we can know what is the biggest star". But that's not a real answer.
Radius and mass of the Sun:
When it comes to the size of stars, it's important to look at ours first for a sense of scale. Our star has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers. This is such a huge number that it's hard to get a sense of the scale. By the way, the Sun accounts for 99.9% of all matter in ours. In fact, you could fit a million inside the volume of the sun.
Using these values, astronomers have created the terms "solar radius" and "solar mass" which they use to compare stars of larger or smaller size and mass to our Sun. The solar radius is 690,000 km and the solar mass is 2 x 1030 kg. This is 2 nonillion kilograms, or 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg.
An illustration of a Morgan-Keenan spectral diagram showing the difference between main sequence stars. Credit: Wikipedia Commons.
Also worth considering is the fact that our Sun is quite small, a G-class main sequence star (specifically a G2V star), which is widely known to be on the smaller side of the size chart (see above). While the Sun is certainly larger than the most common M-class stars, or red dwarfs, it is itself dwarf (no pun intended!) compared to blue giants and other spectral classes of stars.
Classification:
Stars are grouped based on their characteristics, such as spectral type (i.e. color), temperature, size, and brightness. The most common classification method is called the Morgan-Keenan (MK) system, which classifies stars according to temperature using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, where O are the hottest stars and M are the coldest. Each letter class is subdivided into numerical subclasses from 0 (hottest) to 9 (coldest). That is, the hottest stars are O1, and the coldest stars are M9.
In the Morgan-Keenan system, the luminosity class is added using Roman numerals. This is done on the basis of a certain width of absorption lines in the spectrum of the star, which change with the density of the atmosphere, which distinguishes giant stars from dwarfs. Luminosity has classes 0 and I in relation to hyper- and supergiants; classes II, III and IV for bright, normal giants and subgiants, respectively; class V for main sequence stars; and classes VI and VII apply to subdwarfs and dwarfs.
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram showing the relationship between a star's color, luminosity, and temperature. Credit: astronomy.starrynight.com
There is also a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram regarding stellar classification by absolute magnitude (i.e. true brightness), luminosity and surface temperature. The same classification is used for spectral types starting with blue and white color at one end to red at the other, which then combines the stars by absolute magnitude, placing them on a 2D plot (see above).
On average, O-class stars are hotter than other classes of stars, reaching effective temperatures of up to 30,000 Kelvin. At the same time, they are larger and more massive, reaching sizes over 6.5 solar radii and up to 16 solar masses. At the lower end of the diagram, K- and M-class stars (orange and red dwarfs) tend to be colder with temperatures between 2400 and 5700 Kelvin, which is 0.7 - 0.96 from and somewhere around 0.08 - 0. 8 from the solar mass.
Based on the full classification of our Sun (G2V), we can say that it is a main sequence star with a temperature of around 5800 Kelvin. Now consider another famous star system in our galaxy - Eta Carinae (Eta Carinae)- a system containing at least two stars located at a distance of 7500 light years from us in the direction of the constellation Carina. The main star of this system is estimated to be 250 times the size of the Sun, has a mass of at least 120 solar masses, and is a million times brighter than the Sun, making it one of the largest and brightest stars ever observed.
This Carina, one of the most massive stars known, is located in the constellation Carina. Credit: NASA.
There is currently debate over the size of this star. Most stars emit a stellar wind (the same as ), losing mass over time. But This keel so big that it sheds 500 times its mass every year. With this mass loss, it is difficult for astronomers to accurately measure where the star ends and the stellar wind begins. In addition, scientists believe that This keel will explode in the not so distant future, and it will be the most spectacular that people have ever seen.
In terms of net weight, the first place goes to star R136a1, located at a distance of 163,000 light years from us. It is believed that this star can contain 315 solar masses, which is a puzzle for astronomers, since they believe that stars can only contain a maximum of 150 solar masses. The answer lies in the fact that star R136a1 formed, in all likelihood, when several massive stars merged together. Needless to say, R136a1 could explode as .
From the point of view of major stars, a good (and popular) example is Betelgeuse. Located in the shoulder of Orion, this known supergiant has a radius of approximately 950-1200 solar radii, at this radius the Sun would absorb in our solar system. In fact, whenever we want to put the size of our Sun into perspective, we often use Betelgeuse to do this (see below).
However, even after we use this ungainly red giant to compare the Sun to large stars, there are still bigger stars. Consider star WOH G64, a red supergiant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, approximately 168,000 light-years from Earth. With a diameter of 1540 solar radii, this star is currently the largest star known to us in the universe.
But there is also RW Cephei, an orange hypergiant in the constellation Cepheus, located 3500 light years from Earth and measuring 1535 solar radii in diameter. Star Westerland 1-26 (Westerlund 1-26) extraordinarily large, it is a red supergiant (or hypergiant) located in the stellar supercluster Westerlund 1 at a distance of 11,500 light years from us and measuring 1,530 solar radii in diameter. Meanwhile, stars V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarius also have huge dimensions of 1520 solar radii in diameter.
UY Shield's largest star (UY Scuti)
The title of the largest star in the universe(of which we know) comes down to two contenders. For example, UY Shield currently at the top of the list, located 9,500 light-years away in the constellation Scutum, this bright red supergiant and pulsating variable star has an average radius of 1,708 solar radii - or 2.4 billion kilometers (15.9 AU) , thereby giving it a volume of 5 million volumes of the Sun.
However, this average estimate includes an error of ±192 solar radii, which means that the radius of this star can be either 1900 or 1516 solar radii. The lower bound places it on par with V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarius. Meanwhile, the second largest star on the list of possible the biggest stars- this NML Cygnus (NML Cygni), a semi-regular red hypergiant variable star located in the constellation Cygnus at a distance of 5300 light-years from Earth.
An enlarged image of the red giant UY Scutum. Credit: Rutherford Observatory/Haktarfone.
Due to the location of this star in , it is heavily obscured by dust. As a result, according to astronomers, its size can be from 1642 to 2775 solar radii, which means it could become largest star known in the universe(with a margin of about 1000 solar radii), or in fact the torus in size, keeping up with UY Shield.
Just a few years ago the title the biggest star wore VY Canis Major(VY Canis Majoris), a red hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major, located 5000 light years from Earth. Back in 2006, Professor Roberta Humphrey of the University of Minnesota calculated an upper bound for its size at 1540 times the size of the Sun. Its mean mass, however, was 1420 solar masses, placing it eighth behind V354 Cephei and VX Sagittarius.
The above have been listed the biggest stars, which we know about, but most likely there are dozens of larger stars hidden in dust and gas, so that we do not see them. But even if we can't detect these stars, we can speculate about their likely size and mass. So how big can stars be? Once again, Professor Roberta Humphrey from Minnesota gave the answer.
Size comparison of the Sun and VY Canis Majoris, the star that once held the title largest known star in the universe. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Oona Räisänen.
As she explained in her article, largest stars in the universe- the coldest. Therefore, although This keel is the brightest star we know of, extremely hot (25,000 Kelvin) and therefore only 250 solar radii in diameter. Most big stars , on the contrary, will be cold supergiants. As in the case VY Canis Major, which has a temperature of 3500 Kelvin, and a really big star will be even colder.
At 3000 Kelvin, Humphrey estimates that the cold supergiant would be 2600 times the size of the Sun. This is below the upper limit of estimates for NML Cygnus, but above average for both NML Cygnus, and for UY Shield. Therefore, this is the upper limit of a star (at least in theory and based on all the information we have to date).
But as we continue to peer into the Universe with all our telescopes and study it with robotic spacecraft and manned missions, you are sure to find new amazing things that will continue to amaze us!
And be sure to check out this amazing animation below, which shows the sizes of various objects in space, from tiny to UY Shield star. Enjoy!
The title of the article you read "What is the largest star in the universe?".
