Question

How many Earths can fit into VY Canis Majoris, the largest known star?

Answer 1

Hint: In order to find the solution for the given question, first of all we need to know the difference between the size of the earth and the VY Canis Majoris. After that we can compare with the size of the Earth and the VY Canis Majoris to find the total number of earth that can be fitted in the VY Canis Majoris. For this we need to know the radius or the diameter of both the Earth and VY Canis Majoris.

Complete answer:
We need to know that the diameter of VY Canis Majoris is $155000$ times that of our Earth.
Let us assume that $n$numbers of Earth can be fitted into VY Canis Majoris.
Now we can relate the areas of Earth and VY Canis Majoris, as
$\pi \times \dfrac{{{{(1555000 \times 12742)}^2}}}{4} = \pi \times \dfrac{{{{12742}^2}n}}{4}$
$ \Rightarrow n = 7.5477 \times {10^{10}}$
Therefore, we can conclude that $7.5477 \times {10^{10}}$Earths can be fitted into VY Canis Majoris.

Note: VY Canis Majoris is an extreme oxygen rich and either red hypergiant or red supergiant, pulsating variable star. It is located at a distance of $1.2kilopar\sec s$ away from the earth in the constellation of Canis Major. We consider it in the category of the largest known stars considering its radius. Also, it is well known for its luminous capacity. The wavelength of VY Canis Majoris lies between $5to20\mu m$. Also, the radius of VY Canis Majoris is $1420$ times more than that of the radius of the Sun. VY Canis Majoris is surrounded by a dense asymmetric red reflection nebula. The radius of the Sun is approximately, $695700km.$