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Rare Double Star | Space Wallpaper

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Yellow Field Around Hypergiant Star HR 5171 1920
HR 5171, the brightest star just below the center of this stunning space wallpaper, is a yellow hypergiant, a very rare type of stars with only a dozen known in our galaxy. (Image credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2)

HR 5171, the brightest star just below the center of this stunning space wallpaper, is a yellow hypergiant, a very rare type of stars with only a dozen known in our galaxy. Its size is more than 1300 times that of the Sun — one of the ten largest stars found so far. Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer have shown that it is actually a double star, with the companion in contact with the main star. This image was released March 12, 2014.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.