Hubble unveils monster stars
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-hubble-...ter-stars.html
http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/...bbleunveil.jpg


Astronomers using the unique ultraviolet capabilities of the NASA/ESA
Hubble Space Telescope have identified nine monster stars with masses
over 100 times the mass of the Sun in the star cluster R136. This
makes it the largest sample of very massive stars identified to date.
The results, which will be published in the Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, raise many new questions about the
formation of massive stars.



As well as finding dozens of stars exceeding 50 solar masses, this
new study was able to reveal a total number of nine very massive
stars in the cluster, all more than 100 times more massive as the
Sun. However, the current record holder R136a1 does keep its place as
the most massive star known in the Universe, at over 250 solar
masses. The detected stars are not only extremely massive, but also
extremely bright. Together these nine stars outshine the Sun by a
factor of 30 million.

Read more at:
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-hubble-...stars.html#jCp




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