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Top 8 largest celestial bodies in the universe you may not know

These are all the largest exoplanets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, black holes, or super galaxy clusters ever discovered by humans. One of these is a mysterious 'superstructure' that is up to 10 billion light years wide

1. Largest planet in the universe: ROXs 42Bb

With a radius about 11 times larger than Earth, Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. However, Jupiter's size is still nothing compared to exoplanet ROXs 42Bb, which is also the largest planet found in the universe. It has 9 times the mass and 1.12 times the radius of Jupiter, and is about 440 light years from Earth.

First discovered in 2013, ROXs 42Bb is a gas giant similar to Jupiter. While Earth and Jupiter take 365 days and 12 years, respectively, to orbit the Sun, ROXs 42 Bb completes one orbit around its host star in 1968.3 years.

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2. The largest star in the universe: UY Scuti

More than a million Earths can fit inside the Sun, but UY Scuti, the largest star in the universe is so large that it can contain five billion stars with the same volume as our Sun. If UY Scuti were at the center of our solar system, the star's surface would lie between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, while Earth would be swallowed by the star.

It is known that this supergiant is 9,500 light years from Earth and was first discovered in 1860 by a team of astronomers from the Bonn Observatory in Germany. What is surprising is that even 160 years after its discovery, astronomers have not found a larger star.
UY Scuti is classified as a variable star because it experiences fluctuations in brightness every 740 days. Scientists speculate that it is currently running out of hydrogen fuel in its core and has expanded into a red giant - at the end of its life. This means UY Scuti could meet the tragic end of a supernova explosion, which would mark the end of this star. However, the exact time UY Scuti will explode has not yet been determined by astronomers.
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3. Largest star system

The star system is considered the most extensive in the universe, in terms of orbit, consisting of just a single planet (2MASS J2126) orbiting a star named TYC 9486-927-1. What's surprising is that seven years ago, astronomers didn't even know if the planet and the star had any connection. Both entities are considered free-floating celestial bodies because they are located a trillion kilometers apart in space.

However, in 2016, an international team of researchers located the giant hidden orbit of 2MASS J2126 and discovered that the planet actually orbits TYC 9486-927-1. The distance between Earth and this unique star system is 104 light years, while the orbit of 2MASS J2126 is about 140 times wider than the orbit of Pluto in our solar system. Due to its exceptionally wide orbit and significant distance from its star, it takes 2MASS nearly 900,000 Earth years to complete a full orbit.

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4. The largest galaxy in the universe: IC 1101

A galaxy is a collection of many solar systems (or star systems). Some reports suggest that our universe consists of about 2000 billion galaxies. These giant celestial bodies contain billions of stars and other celestial bodies within them. For example, the Milky Way, the galaxy containing Earth and our solar system, is estimated to contain 100 billion stars and nearly 100 million black holes. However, it still cannot compare to IC 1101, the largest galaxy in the universe in terms of size. IC 1101 is about 50 times larger and about 2,000 times more massive than the Milky Way.
Astronomers believe it is home to a staggering 100 trillion stars, spanning over six million light years. The Milky Way, on the other hand, is only about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Some experts believe that IC 1001 may have formed as many galaxies similar in size to the Milky Way collided and merged.
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5. Largest black hole: TON 618

Black holes are some of the heaviest entities in the universe and they are famous for their ability to suck everything in, including light, but can you guess how big a black hole can get? Accordingly, the largest black hole in the universe is estimated to have a mass of 66 billion times the mass of the Sun. But that's not all.

This supermassive black hole powers a quasar (an extremely bright celestial body) named TON 618, which has a luminosity of 140 trillion suns. Located 18.2 billion light years from Earth, TON 618 was first discovered in 1957 and it still holds the title of largest black hole to this day.

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6. Largest stellar nursery: Tarantula Nebula

Nebulae are giant clouds of gas and dust in space where new stars are formed by the effects of gravity, changes in temperature and pressure, and nuclear fusion. The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is the largest and brightest of all known nebulae, according to NASA. It covers an area spanning 1,800 light-years (7.5 x 1015 km) in space and about 170,000 light-years from Earth. Tarantula was first discovered in the early 1750s by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. However, telescopes at the time were not advanced enough to detect individual stars and other structures within the nebula.
It wasn't until more than 200 years later, when astronomers took high-resolution pictures of it, that they realized the enormous size of 30 Doradus. This revelation led to its colloquial name, the Tarantula Nebula – after a species of hairy spider.

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7. Largest galaxy cluster: El Gordo

In 2012, NASA's Chandra X Observatory identified a galaxy cluster called ACT-CLJ0102-4915. When astronomers performed calculations to determine its mass, the results surprised them. The mass of ACT-CLJ0102-4915 is estimated to be about 3 quadrillion (3 x 1015) solar times. This is the largest galaxy cluster ever discovered and has been nicknamed El Gordo, meaning "fat galaxy cluster".

Astronomers think it may have been formed by two giant galaxy clusters colliding in space at speeds of about millions of miles per hour. El Gordo also contains the galaxy with the longest, straightest lens ever observed, La Flaca; a triple-lensed galaxy called the Fishhook; and the most distant red giant, Quyllur,

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8. The largest of the largest celestial bodies: “The Great Wall” Hercules-Corona Borealis

With a length of six to 18 billion light years, the Hercules-Corona Borealis “Great Wall” is considered the largest entity in the observable universe. This is a "galactic string", or a vast cluster of galaxies held together by gravity. The size of this supercluster of galaxies is so large that light takes about 10 billion years to travel its entire length. This giant object was discovered in 2013 during the mapping of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic form of light in the universe.
Astronomers studied 283 GRBs before confirming the presence of Hercules-Corona Borealis. What's even more interesting is that this massive cosmic entity also challenges our understanding of the universe and its scale. For example, there may be millions of galaxies and billions of planets within this supercluster still waiting to be discovered. Additionally, we still do not fully understand how gravity and nuclear forces shape such massive entities and keep them intact in space.

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