Define etch: to produce (something, such as a pattern or design) on a hard material by eating into the material's surface (as byâ¦ â etch in a sentence to produce (something, such as a pattern or design) on a hard material by eating into the material's surface (as by acid or laser beam)â¦
This staggering image shows how our sun - which is so big it accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system - would look next to the biggest star in the universe. VY Canis Majoris is so large that it is impossible to even represent the earth in this picture as it would measure less than one thousandth of a single pixel.
As a result, astronomers estimate that its size could be anywhere from 1,642 to 2,775 solar radii, which means it could either be the largest star in the known Universe (with a margin of 1000 solar radii) or indeed the second largest, ranking not far behind UY Scuti.