Artist’s impression of the yellow hypergiant star HR 5171

This artist’s animation shows the yellow hypergiant star HR 5171. This is a very rare type of star and only a dozen are known in our galaxy. Its size is over 1300 times that of the Sun — one of the ten biggest 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.