What are the largest, heaviest, brightest, strangest STARS known so far?

Answer 1

Betelgeuse (in Orion) is a red giant that is so large that its diameter is the size of the orbit of Jupiter i.e. about 10 AU acrooss (930,000,000 miles) and this is 650 Solar Diameters across.

But this is just a weedy titch compared to the biggest 3 which are

VV Cephei 1900 Solar Diameters
V354 Cephei 1520 Solar Diameters
KW Sagitarii 1460 Solar Diameters

The brightest 3 by Absolute Magnitude (how bright they would look at a distance of 10 parsecs) are

(Star, Magnitude, Luminosity compared to the Sun =1)
LBV 1806-20 −14.2 40,000,000
The Pistol Star −13.2 16,000,000
Cyg OB2-12 −12.2 6,300,000

The heaviest stars: the top 3 are:

Eta Carinae 150 Solar Masses
Pistol Star 150 Solar Masses
LBV 1806-20 130 Solar Masses

Stellar mass is the most important attribute of a star. Combined with chemical compostion, mass determines a star’s luminosity, its physical size, and its ultimate fate.

As to the strangest stars, Wiki comments on a couple of binary star systems in Auriga, the Charioteer:

Two peculiar binary stars, ε Aurigae and ζ Aurigae. ε Aurigae is one of the strangest binary stars. The orbital period is about 27 years, with an eclipse duration of about 18 months. The visible companion is a yellowish (F-class) supergiant. The type of the other star is not known. ζ Aurigae has a period of 970 days, the primary is a (K-class) supergiant and the secondary is a (B-class) main sequence star. Both these systems present a rare stage of binary evolution, as the components are in a short and active evolutionary stage.

Answer 2

Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion.

The star is about 1500 times the diameter of our Sun Betelgeuse has a luminosity of about 14,000 Suns at maximum and 7600 Suns at minimum.
The star is one of the largest known; spectroscopic studies show that the diameter of the star may vary by about 60% during the whole cycle, a difference considerably larger than the radius of the Earth?s orbit!

Only about 13% of the radiant energy is emitted in the form of visible light, so if our eyes were sensitive to radiation at all wavelengths, Betelgeuse would appear as the brightest star in the sky. (Burnham, 1966).

Answer 3

Neutron stars are the dead cores of collapsed red giant stars and they are so tightly compacted and dense that a teaspoon of the stuff weighs nearly as much as the Earth and would punch right through the Earth if you dropped it (assuming of course that you could hold it in the first place, which you couldn't).

Pulsars are rapidly spinning neutron stars that emit regular X-ray or Gamma ray pulses (hence the name) and were mistaken early on for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Both of these are candidates for "weirdest" IMO.

Answer 4

From our point of view on Earth, the Star SIRIUS is the brightess
the star VEGA in the constellation of LYRA is the 3rd brightess
the Star Arturus in the constellation Bootes is the 4th brightess

Sorry, I forgot which is the 2nd brightess... have not studied lately.

Answer 5

Largest: Britney Spears. She's gained some weight.

Brightest: Not sure they exist.

Strangest: Tom Cruise.

Answer 6

convinced, i learn about it - examine the document previously at present, besides the undeniable fact that, it will be too overdue for me, and that i stay in the city so the instruct heavily isn't almost as magnificent. per chance i will dream about it, or a minimum of see some good pictures the following day.

Answer 7

Not sure if Quasars are considered stars... but if they are they might be them.

Edit: nevermind you also said largest. Supernovas

Answer 8

Well go see the movies....but if u mean planets then our own solar system contains some colourful characters.

Answer 9

super-novae

Answer 10

CHRIS FARLEY
JOHN CANDY
JACKIE GLEASON
ETC.