VY Canis Majoris. Combined polarised light Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Keck Observatory image of gaseous outbursts from the red supergiant star VY Canis Majoris. The outermost material seen here was ejected from the star's surface around 1000 years ago. A star's red giant phase, which comes near the end of its life, typically lasts around 50,000 years. VY Canis Majoris is located 4,900 light years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major.