Doomed Giant

A huge star in Canis Major, the big dog, is probably about to go “boom.” The star could explode as a supernova within the next hundred thousand years.
VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars in the entire galaxy. Until the last few years, in fact, many thought it could be the biggest of all. But better measurements of its distance show that it’s a bit closer than thought — less than 4,000 light-years — so it’s not quite as big as thought.
Even so, it’s still a stunner — more than 1400 times the diameter of the Sun. Only a handful of stars are bigger. It’s also a couple of dozen times as massive as the Sun, and several hundred thousand times brighter.
Such massive stars burn through their nuclear fuel in a hurry, so they die quickly. So even though VY Canis Majoris is only a few million years old, it’s nearing the end of its life. As it’s aged, changes in its core have caused its outer layers to puff up.
The star also blows a powerful “wind” of hot gas from its bloated surface — en