Cosmic Scale
Vega
White main-sequence star · 25 light-years
How big is Vega?
Vega is about 3,284,000 km across.
Vega was the first star ever photographed and the first to have its spectrum recorded. It spins so fast that it bulges at the equator and is noticeably cooler there than at its poles.
At a glance
| Diameter | 3,284,000 km |
|---|---|
| Mass | 4.26 × 10³⁰ kg |
| Diameter compared with Earth | 258 × Earth |
| Distance | 25 light-years |
| Surface | 9,600 K |
| Spin | 236 km/s at the equator |
| Age | 455 million years |
Good to know
- It was the northern pole star around 12,000 BC, and will be again around AD 13,700.
- A disk of dust surrounds it — the first such debris disk ever found, and a sign of planet formation.
- For a century it was the reference point for measuring the brightness of every other star.