R136a1

relative sizes of young stars, from the smallest “red dwarfs”, weighing in at about 0.1 solar masses, through low mass “yellow dwarfs” such as the Sun, to massive “blue dwarf” stars weighing eight times more than the Sun, as well as the 300 solar mass star named R136a1. Credit to European Southern Observatory

R136a1 is a Wolf–Rayet star located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is the most luminous and massive star known on record, with a luminosity 8,710,000 times greater than the Sun and a mass 316 times greater.

Properties

R136a1 is part of a star cluster with several other hot stars. Some of the other stars in the cluster include similar stars R136a2 and R136a3. All of the stars in the star cluster have masses that add up to 2,000 solar masses! R136a1 has a temperature of 53,000 Kelvin.

See also

• VY Canis Majoris, the largest known star

References

• https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/408/2/731/1024495
• https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1030/

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