Mar 122014
Say ‘hello” to one of the most remarkable stars ever: HR5171.
This will not end well.
HR5171A is located 12,000 lightyears away in the constellation Centaurus. It is big… 1300 times the diameter of the sun (1.2 billion miles, enough to reach out to the orbit of Saturn). It’s a million times brighter than the sun. And, oh yeah, it has a little friend, orbiting really closely; close enough that they are both gravitationally distorted and share a common atmosphere. Over the last 40 years of observation is has been seen to be growing both bigger and cooler. Sumpin’s gonna happen one of these days…