The biggest known star in the cosmos is in its death throes and will eventually explode, astronomers said on Wednesday. Using a telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the astronomers said they had spotted telltale signs in a star called W26. Located about 16,000 light years away in the constellation of Ara, or The Altar, the star has a diameter 3,000 times that of the Sun. W26, first observed in 1998, is a "red supergiant", a term for a star that is as big as it is short-lived. Read more