How does the time to circle the Sun at light speed compare to circling VY Canis Majoris at light speed?
Answer
It takes $14.5$ seconds around the Sun vs. six hours for VY Canis Majoris
To contextualize the immense scale of these red supergiants, a comparison using the speed of light is often employed. Traveling around the Sun's circumference at the speed of light requires only about $14.5$ seconds. However, when the same speed is applied to another massive star, VY Canis Majoris, the time required for a complete light-speed lap dramatically increases to six hours. Since UY Scuti is cited as being even larger than VY Canis Majoris, this comparison underscores that any human-scale speed, such as $550$ MPH, is virtually motionless relative to the light travel times across these stellar surfaces.
Related Questions
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