Astronomers are keeping a close watch on the slow demise of the largest star in the Milky Way
Astronomical object models in three dimensions can be absurdly complicated. They can be as big as the entire universe in size or as small as black holes from which light cannot even escape. We can now officially add another extremely complex model to our lists, even though not every object has received the attention required to create a comprehensive model of it. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris , which may be the biggest star in the Milky Way, has been created into a model by astronomers at the University of Arizona . And they'll make predictions about how it will pass away using that model. Recently, there has been significant discussion regarding how red hypergiants perish. Astronomers initially believed they simply burst into a supernova, like so many other stars do. Recent findings, however, indicate that there are significantly fewer supernovae than would be predicted if red hypergiants themselves were to burst in that manner. The latest theory is that they are more like...