This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,

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This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity HR 5171 star. Optical image of the sky surrounding the yellow hypergiant HR 5171 (brightest point, centre), a very rare type of star with only a dozen known in the Milky Way galaxy. Its size is over 1300 times that of the Sun and is one of the ten largest stars found so far. Observations have shown that it is actually a binary star, with the companion in contact with the main star. Imaged with the wide field imager of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), Paranal Observatory, Chile.

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Size: 4890px × 3618px
Photo credit: © ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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