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Scientists Discover Biggest Star

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bigger-than-miley dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Scientists at the University of Sheffield have discovered the most massive stellar giant, R136a1 measured at 265 solar masses, using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and data from the Hubble Space Telescope. It's in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small 'satellite' galaxy which orbits the Milky Way. Previously, the heaviest known stars were around 150 times the mass of the Sun, known as the 'Eddington Limit,' and this was believed to be close to the cosmic size limit because as stars get larger, the amount of energy created in their cores grows faster than the force of gravity which holds them together. 'Because of their proximity to the Eddington Limit they lose mass at a pretty high rate,' says Professor Paul Crowther, the chief researcher in the Sheffield team. Hyper-stars like R136a1 are believed to be formed from several young stars merging together, and are only found in the very heart of stellar clusters. R136a1 is believed to have a surface temperature of more than 40,000 degrees Celsius, and is 10 million times brighter than the Sun. Crowther adds that R136a1 is about as big as stars can get. 'Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon.'"

6 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. You think that's big!?!?!? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon.""

    Owing to the size of the universe, I think it is likely that this new record will be broken sometime soon.

    Two theories, now let's sit back and see who's right!

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:You think that's big!?!?!? by Random+Data · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Two theories, now let's sit back and see who's right

      No theories, but two hypotheses. One of which is actually based on modelling and thought, the other on intuition that the Universe is a big place.

      You may be right, but because the Universe is such a big place I *don't* think it's likely to be broken soon, since it's bloody hard to look around. The Tarantula Nebula is nice because it's recent, dense and relatively close, which means this could be found. Of course, they're all relative terms. We've been looking at the Tarantula Nebula for at least 250 years, and we've only found this one now...

    2. Re:You think that's big!?!?!? by v1k · · Score: 5, Funny

      >intuition that the Universe is a big place.

      Dude, the universe is a big place. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to the universe.

    3. Re:You think that's big!?!?!? by Psmylie · · Score: 5, Funny

      Now, where do I get my peanuts?

      Depends on how ambitious you're feeling. If you'd prefer not to venture out into the vastness of space, I'd suggest checking between and under the couch cushions.

      --

      psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo

  2. Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I puzzled over this for a bit too, but this newly discovered star is the most massive discovered. The largest known star in terms of size is still VY Canis Majoris at ~2000 solar radii, but only ~20 times the mass of the Sun.

  3. Link to research paper (arxiv) by Octoploid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the link to the research paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.3284