page_title: List of most massive stars
section_title: Rare reliable estimates
hierarchical_section_title: List of most massive stars / Uncertainties and caveats / Rare reliable estimates
caption_attribution_description: English: This image is not WR 25. It is the nearby Tr 14 244. See correct description Other information no
context_page_description: This is a list of the most massive stars so far discovered, in solar masses.
context_section_description: Eclipsing binary stars are the only stars whose masses are estimated with some confidence. However note that almost all of the masses listed in the table below were inferred by indirect methods; only a few of the masses in the table were determined using eclipsing systems.
  Amongst the most reliable listed masses are those for the eclipsing binaries NGC 3603-A1, WR 21a, and WR 20a. Masses for all three were obtained from orbital measurements. This involves measuring their radial velocities and also their light curves. The radial velocities only yield minimum values for the masses, depending on inclination, but light curves of eclipsing binaries provide the missing information: inclination of the orbit to our line of sight.
caption: WR 25 is a binary star, whose orbit around its obscured companion provided a constraint on its mass.
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