A massive star was discovered in the R136 star cluster , pictured here by the Hubble Space Telescope European astronomers have discovered the most massive star yet on record; it is approximately 300 times the mass of our sun, beyond the previously accepted limit of 150 solar masses . Paul Crowther, professor of astrophysics at the University of Sheffield , led the team of researchers that discovered the star. The team used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, and data archived from the Hubble Space Telescope . The newly discovered star, designated R136a1, was discovered in the R136 star cluster . "What they're characterizing as a single massive star," Mark Krumholz told the Associated Press, "could in fact be a binary system too close to be resolved." Krumholz is an astronomer at the University of California . The R136 star cluster, the star's location, is in the Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud , a neighboring galaxy about 165,000 light-years away. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located between the constellations Dorado and Mensa , is visible as a faint cloud in the southern hemisphere . Astronomers are still struggling to understand how these stars form.
A massive star was discovered in the , pictured here by the Hubble Space Telescope European astronomers have discovered the most massive yet on record; it is approximately 300 times the mass of our sun, beyond the previously accepted limit of 150 . Paul Crowther, professor of at the , led the team of researchers that discovered the star. The team used the (VLT) in Chile, and data archived from the . The newly discovered star, designated R136a1, was discovered in the R136 . "What they're characterizing as a single massive star," Mark Krumholz told the Associated Press, "could in fact be a binary system too close to be resolved." Krumholz is an astronomer at the . The R136 star cluster, the star's location, is in the in the , a neighboring about 165,000 away. The Large Magellanic Cloud, located between the and , is visible as a faint cloud in the . Astronomers are still struggling to understand how these stars form.
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R136 star cluster
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astrophysics at the University of Sheffield
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University of California
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Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud
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constellations Dorado and Mensa
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southern hemisphere