LBV 1806-20
Brightest star:
On the other end of our galaxy and hidden behind thick layers of dust lies this blue monster, which could be the brightest star in the Milky Way.
Most likely the luminosity comes from a single star without companion. Such a giant can't be explainded yet, from today's knowledge it can't be stable, but it is.
LBV 1806-20 lies within an area with many other young blue stars. Some of them emerged only recently. Another neighbor is SGR 1806-20.
Constellation: Sagittarius
Age: 1 million years
Distance: 49 000 light-years
Visual magnitude: 8.4
Luminosity: 40 million * Sun
Mass: circa 150 * Sun
Diameter: > 200 * Sun
LBV 1806-20 is a luminous blue variable or possible binary star located 30,000–49,000 light-years from the Sun, towards the center of the galaxy. It has a total system mass of 130–150 Solar masses and an estimated variable luminosity of up to 5 million times that of the Sun,[1] making it comparably luminous to Eta Carinae or the Pistol Star, contenders for the most luminous known star (all of which are luminous blue variables).
Despite its high luminosity, it is virtually invisible from the Solar system, because less than one billionth of its visible light reaches us, the rest being absorbed by intervening interstellar gas and dust. Although the star is 8th magnitude at the near infrared wavelength of 2 micrometers, it is calculated to be about 35th magnitude at visible wavelengths, which is undetectable.
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