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SYDNEY: Astronomers have discovered a mammoth star in a nearby galaxy that is 300 times the mass of the Sun and 10 million times brighter, easily breaking all the records.
The record-breaking star was discovered using a collection of data from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope and from NASA.
A team of scientists led by astrophysicist Paul Crowther from the University of Sheffield in England reported their findings in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Breaking the limit two times over
Small stars are well documented and the lower limit for small stars in close to 0.1 solar mass. The mass of large stars is less definite, but until now it was believed that around 150 solar masses is the largest a star can be.
When they discovered the mammoth star, Crowther and his team were studying a cluster of stars – where stars are born – called RMC 136a, located in the Tarantula Nebula. The star, 'R136a1', has a mass of 265 solar masses, which means it's birth solar mass would be closer to 320 solar masses, as stars lose mass as they age.
R136a1 not only supersedes the Sun in mass but it's surface temperature measure at over 40,000 degrees, several times hotter than the Sun, which, along with its mass makes the newly discovered star millions of times brighter than the Sun as well.
Originally posted by Alaskan Man
Things keep getting bigger and bigger out in space, I'm sure it wont be to long before they find a star that dwarfs this one.
Originally posted by Arbitrageur
Sorry but your thread title is incorrect.