Hypergiant Memes

That radius is approximately 15,700 times larger than our sun. We're not talking about a "little star" here—we're talking about a hypergiant that would engulf our entire solar system and then some. The unimpressed SpongeBob face perfectly captures how astronomers react when children's songs grossly misrepresent celestial objects. Next they'll be singing about how the moon is made of cheese while I silently contemplate my career choices.

When your childhood astronomy documentary suddenly takes an unexpected turn into stellar classification. Left: our sun (a G-type main sequence star). Right: VY Canis Majoris (a red hypergiant approximately 1,420 times larger than our sun). Nothing prepares you for the cosmic reality check of discovering that what you thought were educational videos about space were actually showing you how insignificant we truly are in the universe. Childhood trauma via astronomy - the gift that keeps on giving.