The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System and the source of almost all the energy reaching its planets. It fuses about 600 million metric tons of hydrogen each second, and energy released in the core takes on the order of 100,000 years to work its way out to the visible surface.
Scale Comparison
Sun vs Stephenson 2 DFK 49
Explore the scaleStephenson 2 DFK 49's quoted visible extent is about 1,150 times the Sun's.
Stephenson 2 DFK 49 has a quoted diameter about 1,150 times the Sun’s, with substantial uncertainty in the star’s distance and photospheric edge.
The value depends on modeled temperature, distance and the definition of a photosphere inside a diffuse, mass-losing atmosphere. It is an estimate rather than a measured hard boundary.
Objects
Object details and sources
Stephenson 2 DFK 49 is an extreme red supergiant whose quoted size remains highly uncertain because its outer layers are diffuse and difficult to define. Even so, plausible estimates make it so enormous that its photosphere could approach or even engulf Jupiter’s orbit if placed at the center of the Solar System.
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.