Stars · Blue hypergiant
Pistol Star
26,000 light-years · Light crosses it in 24 minutes
- Across
- 425.8 million km
- Vs Earth
- 306× Sun
- Mass
- 28 Suns
Open Pistol Star in Cosmic Scale
In the app, Pistol Star is part of the Beyond pack.
About
The Pistol Star is a luminous blue variable near the centre of the galaxy, hidden behind so much dust that it was only found in the 1990s with infrared eyes. It has already blown off a nebula several light-years across.
Blasted out a nebula that would stretch from the Sun to Alpha Centauri.
At a glance
| Distance | 26,000 light-years |
|---|---|
| Brightness | 1.6 million Suns |
| Nebula | About 4 light-years across |
| Found | 1990s, by Hubble |
Did you know
- The nebula around it contains as much material as several Suns, all thrown off in a few thousand years.
- It belongs to the Quintuplet Cluster, one of the densest star clusters in the galaxy.
- Visible light from it never reaches us; only infrared gets through the dust.
Real photo
- The Pistol Star and the nebula it blew off, Hubble 1997 — Don F. Figer (UCLA), and NASA / ESA (CC BY 4.0) · source