<h2>On the banana scale, it's an ore freighter.</h2>
<p>Every physicist worth their salt knows that the most important scale in the galaxy is the banana. Now, your average banana is <a href="http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/portion-size-bananas-7664.html" rel="noreferrer">between 7-8 inches in length</a>.</p>
<p>Approximately the same shape are the ore freighters that go on the Great Lakes. They're called 1000 footers because, go figure, they're roughly 1000 feet long. The banana is to the freighter as the sun is to YV Canis Major.</p>
<p>Here's a picture of one of those freighters. Now imagine one of the workers is having lunch, eating a banana.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/bpJOd.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bpJOd.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T12:52:12.447Z
You meant to post this to BoingBoing, right?  :-)
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T17:19:51.923Z
Why don't they call them kilofooters? Oh, wait, feet aren't SI.
John Dvorak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T19:18:26.913Z
@JanDvorak you joke, but kft is pretty well known in aviation / aeronautical engineering...
costrom
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T15:46:33.727Z
2017-02-07T15:46:33.727Z
2020-06-17T09:47:40.653Z
corsiKa
<p><b>An airplane flying along the surface of the sun would take about 6.6 months to circle it once.</b></p>

<h2>The same airplane would take 787 years to complete one trip around VY Canis Majoris.</h2>

<p><br>
<hr>
Aircraft's speed: <b>900 km / h</b>
<br></p>

<p>Sun's radius: <b>696,000 km</b></p>

<p>One circle around the sun: <b>4,373,096.97 km</b></p>

<p>Time for aircraft to complete this circle: <b>4858 hours ≈ 6.6 months </b></p>

<p><br><br>
VY Canis Majoris radius: <b>988,320,000 km</b></p>

<p>One circle around VY Canis Majoris: <b>6,209,797,703 km</b></p>

<p>Time for aircraft to complete this circle: <b>6899775.225 hours
≈ 787.645 years! </b></p>

<p><br>
<sub>PS: Looks like the math done in one of the videos shared in the comments above is incorrect :)</sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T02:37:28.077Z
2017-02-08T02:37:28.077Z
Dhruv Saxena
<p>Depends a bit on whether you want to compare diameters or volume (3D). </p>

<p>For radius,  consider that it's approximately 6.6 A.U., so if you dropped it into the Solar System it'd extend out to well past Jupiter's orbit.</p>

<p>Or it's the ratio of a standard tenpin bowling ball to the point of a <a href="https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110303132601AAOmiN7" rel="noreferrer">sewing needle</a> </p>

<p>The volumetric ratio is 1420^2 or about 2 million to one. That's roughly one person out of the entire population of Houston, TX.   Or the ratio of 100 liters of water to a single drop from an eyedropper.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T14:32:18.010Z
I think comparing it to the orbit of Jupiter is going to be pretty difficult for most people to conceptualise (its how i originally described it to the person i was talking to in fact) I like the bowling ball and sewing needle idea
Jacxel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T14:47:59.857Z
This is like saying IC 1101 to Segue 2, not so obvious to people without specialized knowledge. Of course there are people who have not seen the London Eye or a Donut, or both.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T14:15:00.173Z
2017-02-07T14:15:00.173Z
Carl Witthoft
<p>You should look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR5VJo5ifdE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mark Rober's video</a>, he uses a size comparaison known by <strike>everybody</strike>every American: a football field!</p>

<p>Assuming the Sun is a normal soccer ball...</p>

<ul>
<li>Earth is a pinhead at 26 yards (23m) away from the Sun/ball.</li>
<li>Jupiter is a grape at 135 yards (123m) away from the Sun/ball, almost the size of the field.</li>
<li>Saturn is a smaller grape at "2,5 football fields away from the Sun/ball", which is almost 300 yards (274m)</li>
<li>At 6:02 of the video, "the largest star known" would be the size of the Empire State Building: 381m (416 yards)</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T21:11:32.740Z
2017-02-08T21:11:32.740Z
Goufalite
<p>I think both the ore freighter / banana and donut / London Eye comparisons have scales that are relatable but lack "universality" in the sense that people may not know the size of the London Eye or an ore freighter. I'd suggest thumbnail vs bus, as both exist all over the world.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T17:22:41.073Z
There are quite a lot of different types of thumbnails. Did you mean the literal one, on an average human hand?
John Dvorak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-09T07:03:43.440Z
@JanDvorak Literal, yes. I don't think it needs to be exact enough that it's necessary to specify what size hand.
JollyJoker
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T11:49:48.127Z
2017-02-08T11:49:48.127Z
JollyJoker
<p>Well, taking the scale of the solar system as an example, you can say that VY Canis Majoris is around 70% the size of Saturn's orbit.<br/></p>

<p>Reference numbers:<br/>
Saturn's average distance from the Sun = 1,433,449,370 km.<br/>
VY Canis Majoris radius = 988,300,000 km.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T19:02:32.260Z
2017-02-08T19:02:32.260Z
glaubergft
<p>After some playing around with wolfram alpha and google my best comparison has been</p>

<h2>The sun compared to VY Canis Majoris is like a donut compared to the London Eye.</h2>

<p>The London Eye is about 120m in diameter, this divided by 1500 is about 8cm which is roughly the diameter of a ring donut. </p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jl6l5.jpg" alt="VY Canis Majoris"></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T14:25:37.020Z
I made a relevant picture http://i.imgur.com/s8bn46y.jpg
Jacxel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-02-07T13:57:39.160Z
2018-08-21T15:56:51.737Z
2018-08-21T15:56:51.737Z
Jacxel
<p>I was trying to describe how vast the largest known star is to someone and felt I wasn't quite able to relate the scale difference. I know it's roughly 1500 times larger than the sun. Anyone know of a good analogy? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-07T13:58:25.457Z
apologies if this is a bit off topic, I couldn't think of a more appropriate stack to ask it.
Jacxel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T00:58:20.113Z
These are perhaps slightly dramatic simulations I'd come across a while ago. However, on a personal level, they never fail to leave me breathless...! (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoW8Tf7hTGA and (2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz4vGvoxQA
Dhruv Saxena
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T04:56:23.767Z
Just point to the sun and indicate how much of the sky would be filled by VY Canis Majoris at the same distance. If that doesn't get the point across, it's pretty much a lost cause. And you might mention how far out the far side would be.
user2338816
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T12:37:57.900Z
@user2338816 The notion of *how much of the sky would be filled by the star* doesn't make much sense when you're **inside** the star.
Dmitry Grigoryev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T12:42:47.213Z
While this question is certainly not off-topic, it's totally opinion based. Any 1:1500 scale comparison would work, and there's no objective way to decide which one is the best.
Dmitry Grigoryev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-08T15:21:33.277Z
Note: VY Canis Majoris is no longer the largest known star. According to Wikipedia and its sources, there 6 more known stars that have been estimated to be larger: KY Cygni, V354 Cephei, Westerlund 1-26, RW Cephei, WOH G64, UY Scuti. These stars have a ratio of 1500-1900 times larger than the sun.
Nzall
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-10T02:52:14.760Z
@DmitryGrigoryev Why would you consider being at a distance of 146M km to be "inside"?
user2338816
<star><size>
Relatable comparison of VY Canis Majoris to the Sun?
Jacxel
# Relatable comparison of VY Canis Majoris to the Sun?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-07)

I was trying to describe how vast the largest known star is to someone and felt I wasn't quite able to relate the scale difference. I know it's roughly 1500 times larger than the sun. Anyone know of a good analogy?

**Tags:** star, size

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: apologies if this is a bit off topic, I couldn't think of a more appropriate stack to ask it.  
> **username_1**: These are perhaps slightly dramatic simulations I'd come across a while ago. However, on a personal level, they never fail to leave me breathless...! (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoW8Tf7hTGA and (2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz4vGvoxQA  
> **username_2**: Just point to the sun and indicate how much of the sky would be filled by VY Canis Majoris at the same distance. If that doesn't get the point across, it's pretty much a lost cause. And you might mention how far out the far side would be.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 The notion of *how much of the sky would be filled by the star* doesn't make much sense when you're **inside** the star.  
> **username_3**: While this question is certainly not off-topic, it's totally opinion based. Any 1:1500 scale comparison would work, and there's no objective way to decide which one is the best.  
> **username_4**: Note: VY Canis Majoris is no longer the largest known star. According to Wikipedia and its sources, there 6 more known stars that have been estimated to be larger: KY Cygni, V354 Cephei, Westerlund 1-26, RW Cephei, WOH G64, UY Scuti. These stars have a ratio of 1500-1900 times larger than the sun.  
> **username_2**: @DmitryGrigoryev Why would you consider being at a distance of 146M km to be "inside"?  

---

## 7 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2017-02-07. Score: 26 | Accepted answer

After some playing around with wolfram alpha and google my best comparison has been

## The sun compared to VY Canis Majoris is like a donut compared to the London Eye.

The London Eye is about 120m in diameter, this divided by 1500 is about 8cm which is roughly the diameter of a ring donut.

![VY Canis Majoris](https://i.sstatic.net/jl6l5.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I made a relevant picture http://i.imgur.com/s8bn46y.jpg  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-02-07. Score: 21

## On the banana scale, it's an ore freighter.

Every physicist worth their salt knows that the most important scale in the galaxy is the banana. Now, your average banana is [between 7-8 inches in length](http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/portion-size-bananas-7664.html).

Approximately the same shape are the ore freighters that go on the Great Lakes. They're called 1000 footers because, go figure, they're roughly 1000 feet long. The banana is to the freighter as the sun is to YV Canis Major.

Here's a picture of one of those freighters. Now imagine one of the workers is having lunch, eating a banana.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/bpJOd.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/bpJOd.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: You meant to post this to BoingBoing, right?  :-)  
> **username_7**: Why don't they call them kilofooters? Oh, wait, feet aren't SI.  
> **username_8**: @JanDvorak you joke, but kft is pretty well known in aviation / aeronautical engineering...  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-02-08. Score: 9

**An airplane flying along the surface of the sun would take about 6.6 months to circle it once.**

## The same airplane would take 787 years to complete one trip around VY Canis Majoris.

---

Aircraft's speed: **900 km / h**

Sun's radius: **696,000 km**

One circle around the sun: **4,373,096.97 km**

Time for aircraft to complete this circle: **4858 hours ≈ 6.6 months**

VY Canis Majoris radius: **988,320,000 km**

One circle around VY Canis Majoris: **6,209,797,703 km**

Time for aircraft to complete this circle: **6899775.225 hours
≈ 787.645 years!**

PS: Looks like the math done in one of the videos shared in the comments above is incorrect :)


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2017-02-07. Score: 5

Depends a bit on whether you want to compare diameters or volume (3D).

For radius, consider that it's approximately 6.6 A.U., so if you dropped it into the Solar System it'd extend out to well past Jupiter's orbit.

Or it's the ratio of a standard tenpin bowling ball to the point of a [sewing needle](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110303132601AAOmiN7)

The volumetric ratio is 1420^2 or about 2 million to one. That's roughly one person out of the entire population of Houston, TX. Or the ratio of 100 liters of water to a single drop from an eyedropper.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I think comparing it to the orbit of Jupiter is going to be pretty difficult for most people to conceptualise (its how i originally described it to the person i was talking to in fact) I like the bowling ball and sewing needle idea  
> **username_9**: This is like saying IC 1101 to Segue 2, not so obvious to people without specialized knowledge. Of course there are people who have not seen the London Eye or a Donut, or both.  

---

### Answer by username_10 on 2017-02-08. Score: 1

You should look at [Mark Rober's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR5VJo5ifdE), he uses a size comparaison known by everybodyevery American: a football field!

Assuming the Sun is a normal soccer ball...

* Earth is a pinhead at 26 yards (23m) away from the Sun/ball.
* Jupiter is a grape at 135 yards (123m) away from the Sun/ball, almost the size of the field.
* Saturn is a smaller grape at "2,5 football fields away from the Sun/ball", which is almost 300 yards (274m)
* At 6:02 of the video, "the largest star known" would be the size of the Empire State Building: 381m (416 yards)


---

### Answer by username_11 on 2017-02-08. Score: 0

I think both the ore freighter / banana and donut / London Eye comparisons have scales that are relatable but lack "universality" in the sense that people may not know the size of the London Eye or an ore freighter. I'd suggest thumbnail vs bus, as both exist all over the world.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: There are quite a lot of different types of thumbnails. Did you mean the literal one, on an average human hand?  
> **username_11**: @JanDvorak Literal, yes. I don't think it needs to be exact enough that it's necessary to specify what size hand.  

---

### Answer by username_12 on 2017-02-08. Score: 0

Well, taking the scale of the solar system as an example, you can say that VY Canis Majoris is around 70% the size of Saturn's orbit.

Reference numbers:  
Saturn's average distance from the Sun = 1,433,449,370 km.  
VY Canis Majoris radius = 988,300,000 km.


---

