Lead
In 1959, the American space explorer Parsassa claimed that there must be stars in the universe that are 1 light-year in diameter.
As a result, stars up to 1 light-year in diameter are close in size to those giant clusters.
Therefore, if you look at it from the perspective of such a star, this huge cluster is dwarfed in front of them.
In 1979, Croatian astronomer Rosmuhanhui publicly stated at the annual meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society that the massive Stevenson 2-18 stars were at least 1 light-year in diameter.
In the years that followed, the diameter of Stevenson 2-18 was considered reasonably around 3 billion kilometers.
So, how big is a star with a diameter of 1 light year?
What's so special about it?
So, let's explore it today!
1. Nuclear fusion reactions.
The formation of the first stars in the universe began with the gravitational collapse of the primordial nebula.
And, as gravity pulls, the density of these gases increases, which increases the temperature.
Eventually, when the temperature reaches a critical value, the fusion reaction process begins.
At the same time, it is also the birth of a newborn star.
This phenomenon has been discovered in a large number of younger interstellar regions, so there is a better understanding of the formation process of this new star.
However, despite the discovery of countless new stars, it is another thing to actually observe a nuclear fusion reaction.
So far, the only nuclear fusion reactions we have been able to observe are some of the more distant stars that are relatively far away.
There is no way to find a way about the inner state of these stars.
Therefore, this research needs to be strengthened.
Theoretically, the nuclear fusion reaction process takes place in the core region of the newly born star.
This reaction continuously radiates the energy of the star, which is also the source of the star's brightness.
At the same time, hydrogen is eventually converted to helium and the star's brightness is maintained until the core's hydrogen resources are exhausted.
But for more massive stars, the fusion reaction is not limited to hydrogen, but continues until the final result is iron.
Iron is the weakest element in maintaining the brightness of a star.
Therefore, the nuclear fusion reaction of iron will instantly deplete the core resources of the star, which will collapse instantly, and eventually lead to the occurrence of supernova events.
At the same time, this explosion is also the birth of a temporary super-bright light body, a temporary red nova.
2. Stevenson 2-18.
Before the 80s of the 20th century, the scale of the star was one of the most complex objects, and it was also the end point of the evolution of matter in the universe.
It can be said that stars have a very complex physical structure, which has led to many different people's controversies about this substance.
At a time when there was still controversy about the structure of stars, some scholars put forward a very bold speculation when they saw that there were very large stars, that is, there must be huge stars in the universe.
It is against this backdrop that stars with a diameter of 1 light-year are noticed.
When Stevenson 2-18 was discovered in 1979, some astronomers thought the star was a very massive young star.
However, after careful research, it was discovered that Stevenson 2-18 had nothing to do with the origin of the newborn star.
A combination of factors led to the conclusion that Stevenson 2-18 was a very large star.
The diameter of Stevenson 2-18 can be understood as how much light is interrupted in the aperture of the star by the edge of this huge star.
Therefore, one can deduce the volume of the star from this data.
How much sun is the volume of Stevenson 2-18?
According to scientists on Earth, Stevenson 2-18 is larger than even the largest stars in a star cluster.
In 1993, the Turkish astronomer Professor Ayyob Decker made a precise estimate.
In his research, he found that the minimum diameter of Stevenson 2-18 is 2 billion kilometers.
This means that Stevenson 2-18 is nearly 20 billion times larger than our sun.
Therefore, the quality of Stevenson's 2-18 is immeasurable.
It can only be measured by the mass of the sun.
According to research so far, the heaviest giant stars are more than 300 times more massive than the Sun.
But even a star of this weight can't compare to Stevenson's 2-18.
Therefore, the mass of Stevenson 2-18 will most likely be hundreds or thousands of times greater than that of the Sun.
And if Stevenson 2-18 were a red supergiant, it could have a mass of up to 1 trillion times the mass of the Sun.
Stevenson 2-18 would be even more impressive if it were a star with a diameter of 1 light-year.
Of course, red supergiants are very massive, but if Stevenson 2-18 were a star with a diameter of 1 light-year, the mass would be even more impressive.
Specifically, Stevenson 2-18 will be 1 trillion times more massive than the Sun, which is almost equal to all the stars in the Milky Way combined.
3. Stars with a diameter of 1 light year.
In summary, there is no such thing as a star with a diameter of 1 light-year in the universe.
Even a giant star like Stevenson 2-18 is only a limit, and it has not surpassed its huge star.
And for the largest star, theoretically, its mass will not exceed trillions of solar masses.
Because once the mass of the star exceeds this limit, then the star will consume hydrogen very quickly, resulting in a very low brightness of the star.
At the same time, the temperature will drop to very low, which will also prevent the star from colliding with two helium nuclei.
So, if there is such a very massive star, then after evolution, the star will not be transformed into a red supergiant, but a very dense black hole.
As a result, Stevenson 2-18 is so large and able to maintain millions of times the brightness of a conventional star, which means that its mass can be maintained within a certain range.
So what does a 1 light-year-sized star look like?
For such stars, its mass would even exceed the maximum mass of a star as we know it.
Thus, with such a large force of gravity, Stevenson 2-18 would be compressed into a very small range.
Even so, Stevenson 2-18 cannot become a black hole because it is not mass enough to form.
However, due to this gravity, if a star comes close to Stevenson 2-18, the star will be torn to pieces and eventually fall into Stevenson 2-18.
In the universe, it is very rare to have a star with a diameter of 1 light year, but it is not non-existent.
In a large number of stellar aggregates or clusters, there will always be some huge stars.
And stars are also formed by condensing in huge nebulae.
If a large star can be stable, the shape of some nearby stars will also be affected.
As a result, the massive star is dragged by the surrounding stars, gradually forming a star with a diameter of 1 light-year.
On the other hand, such huge stars with a diameter of 1 light year are very unstable in the universe.
Therefore, such a star may have exploded, but the real cause of the explosion has not yet been found.
You know, this explosion is so powerful that it can wipe out all the stars in the entire cluster.
However, we did not find any traces of the explosion.
epilogue
Theoretically, the probability that there is not a single star in the universe with a diameter of 1 light-year is very low.
However, our study of stars is only at the surface level, and we cannot draw conclusions based on theories alone.
We still have a lot of areas that we don't know, and perhaps, new scientific theories or the development of science and technology, we still have a lot of unknowns.