Eternal Bloom
3 billion Suns can Fit inside this STAR
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3 billion Suns can Fit inside this STAR ✩
VY CMa is one of the largest stars known, with a radius estimated to be about 1,420 times that of the Sun. It is also incredibly luminous, about 300,000 times brighter than the Sun. The star has had many out burst over past 1,000 years as it nears the end of its life.
VY Canis Majoris is one of the most massive and luminous red supergiants known in the Milky Way.
Surrounded by a complex circumstellar envelope (CSE) formed from material expelled from the star’s surface, the artist was taken aback by its resemblance to a delicate flower in full bloom.
ETERNAL BLOOM Acrylic on canvas 24 × 24 x 1.5 in. (30.5 × 30.5 × 3.8 cm) $500.00
Massive Star VY Canis Major Image from NASA Hubble Space Telescope
The outbursts are from VY Canis Majoris, a red supergiant star that is also classified as a hypergiant because of its very high luminosity.
The eruptions have formed loops, arcs, and knots of material moving at various speeds and in many different directions.
This painting of VY Canis Majoris — one of the largest known stars in the universe — captures the haunting beauty of this colossal hypergiant in the constellation Canis Major. In its final stage of life, we can see it as a delicate reminder of our own impermanence.
TIME is not what we know it to be.
The light from VY CMa began its journey 3,900 years ago, by the time it reached us in an image from NASA, the star may have already collapsed. This piece bridges science and the humanities — life and death, degeneration and renewal; the artwork preserves the eternal beauty of a star that may no longer exist.
VY CMa, found in the constellation Canis Major, is located in the southern sky. Its name means "the greater dog" in Latin. Canis Major represents the larger dog following Orion, the hunter, in Greek mythology. The Great Dog is often depicted pursuing a hare, represented by the constellation Lepus. The smaller dog is symbolized by the nearby constellation Canis Minor.
Cosmic Location: Canis Major Constellation
Celestial Phenomenon: VY CMa
Collection: 88 Constellations