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How big is Vega?

Vega is 3,500,000 kilometres

A Star with a Stature: Vega

Have you ever wondered about the vastness of space and the size of the stars that sprinkle the night sky? Today, let’s explore one of the brightest stars in our galactic neighborhood, Vega. It’s a star that outshines many others and has had a significant impact on our understanding of the cosmos.

Size and Comparison

Vega is much larger than our Sun. In fact, it’s about 2.1 times the size! If we could place Vega and the Sun side by side, Vega would tower over our home star. Despite being located 25 light-years away from us, its brightness is a testament to its enormous size.

  • Vega’s diameter is approximately 2.3 million miles (3.7 million kilometers). - In comparison, the Sun’s diameter is about 864,000 miles (1.39 million kilometers). - That means Vega is almost three times the size of the Sun!

Vega Versus Other Stars

While Vega is large when compared to our Sun, it’s dwarfed by other stars in the universe. For instance:

  • Arcturus, the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, is approximately 25 times the size of the Sun. That makes it over 8 times larger than Vega! - Betelgeuse, a supergiant star, is about 700 times the size of the Sun. It’s so big that if it replaced our Sun, its outer surface would reach beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

Vega’s Illuminating Influence

Vega’s size isn’t the only thing that makes it special. This star has been extensively studied by astronomers and has played a significant role in the development of astrophysics.

  • Vega was the first star, other than the Sun, to have its image and spectrum photographed.
  • It was one of the first stars whose distance was estimated through parallax measurements.
  • Vega functioned as the baseline for calibrating the photometric brightness scale and was one of the stars used to define the zero point for the UBV photometric system.

A Star of the Past and Future

Interestingly, Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE and will be so again around the year 13,727. This means that at these times, Vega is the star that’s directly above the North Pole of the Earth, guiding the way for travellers just like the North Star does today. In conclusion, Vega is a star that truly stands out in the cosmos, not just because of its size, but also due to its significant contributions to astronomy. So next time you gaze up at the night sky, remember: you’re looking at a celestial body that’s over twice the size of our Sun and has a history and future as our guiding star.

Smaller By Category
Altair
Altair is one of the three stars in the Summer Triangle. The Summer Triangle is an acute triangle, which means that all the angles are less than 90°! The other two are Vega and Deneb. Like many other stars, Altair spins very quickly, bulging at the center!
Procyon
Did you know that over the next 10 million years, Procyon will grow to 100 times its current diameter and become red? This is because Procyon's hydrogen is now all helium. The Sun will do the same thing in a couple billion years.
Pollux
In Greek mythology, Pollux's twin is Castor. They are also stars in the constellation Gemini, meaning "twins". However, in reality, Pollux is a single star, while Castor is three binary stars, for a total of six stars. Castor is a set of sextuplets!
Larger By Category
Regulus
Regulus spins so quickly it bulges, just like Altair and Vega. If Regulus were to spin 16% faster, it would rip apart! Regulus is also the brightest star in the constellation Leo. There's also Regulus B & C.
Total Human Height
If all the 7.8 billion humans stood on top of one another, and the bottom 7.7 billion humans didn't crumple under all the weight, the stack would be approximately 13 million kilometers tall.
Spica
Spica is the fifteenth brightest star in the night sky and lies in the constellation Virgo. It's actually a binary star system. The two stars are very close, and they orbit every four days.