Astronomers identify star 10 million times brighter than the Sun
Experts identified it among a group of "monster" stars - whose size and brightness exceed what many scientists thought was possible Found within two young star clusters, NGC 3603 and RMC 136a, the stars weigh up to 300 times the mass of the Sun, a figure which doubles the previously accepted limit of solar mass. Read more
Biggest star ever found may be ticking antimatter bomb
Just how humungous can a star be? One more massive than any other we know has been has been identified in a nearby galaxy. At more than 250 times the mass of the sun, it may one day explode in an exotic blast that involves the creation of antimatter. Named R136a1, the star sits toward the centre of RMC 137a, a crowded cluster of hot young stars some 165,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's nearest galactic neighbours. Read more
They are among the true monsters of space - colossal stars whose size and brightness go well beyond what many scientists thought was even possible. One of the objects, known simply as R136a1, is the most massive ever found. Viewed today, the star has a mass about 265 times that of our own Sun; but the latest modelling work suggests at birth it could have been bigger, still. Read more