Milky Way's Most Massive Star Discovered (Photos)

I was browsing the Huffington Post and found this article on a newly discovered massive star in the Milky Way Galaxy. The thing I love about Space is that there is a never ending amount of objects to study and to me it never gets old.

The Milky Way galaxy's most massive star has been spotted in a "glowing stellar nursery" in space. The picture (see below) of the massive Milky Way star was captured by the European Southern Observatory's aptly named 'Very Large Telescope,' which measures 27 feet in diameter.

The telescope, located at Cerro Paranal, Chile, combined data from violet, red and infrared filters to create the image of the Milky Way. This massive star is housed in the NGC 3603 nebula, in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way, which is known as one of the luminous and most compact star clusters. It is located 22,000 light-years away from Earth.

Thousands of young suns similar or smaller in size to our sun have been born there, but there are some spectacular stars that are nearing the end of their lives, including several blue supergiants and three massive Wolf-Rayet stars. Wolf-Rayet stars are extremely bright, massive and spew vast amounts of material out into space before exploding in enormous supernovae.

The most massive of these is 120 times as massive as our sun and therefore the most massive star known in the Milky Way. The thousands of stars in the nebula are all roughly a million years old, though some are near the beginning and others at the end of their lives. This is due to the fact that high-mass stars burn quickly through their life while smaller ones burn much slower.

www.huffingtonpost.com...


Check out a close up of the nebula and the massive stars in the picture below.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/212d93d3ab93.jpg[/atsimg]

Here's a glimpse at the broader area around the NGC 3603 nebula:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b5c7b5065c5a.jpg[/atsimg]





[edit on 5-2-2010 by TV_Nation]

Um, I thought that VY Canis Majoris was the largest, with a radius at least 1,800 that of the Sun's.

VY Canis Majoris

Canis Majoris is a Red Hypergiant that is so large, if it was placed at the center of our solar system, it's surface would reach out near Saturn.

To even imagine how large this is, a person would first have to hit themselves in the head with a hammer.

But, seriously, it's big.

But, mass may be a different story. Either way, all of the info is mind-boggling.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by SonofFenris]

I like the pictures, don't you guys?

I think so, pictures mean alot.

Cool stuff very interesting.

reply to post by Quickfix


yes very beautiful indeed... never ceases to amaze

reply to post by carbonblack


Yeah very unique IMHO. There is a website full of different star pictures. I bet they would look good blown up on posters or something.

Originally posted by SonofFenris
Um, I thought that VY Canis Majoris was the largest, with a radius at least 1,800 that of the Sun's.

VY Canis Majoris

Canis Majoris is a Red Hypergiant that is so large, if it was placed at the center of our solar system, it's surface would reach out near Saturn.

To even imagine how large this is, a person would first have to hit themselves in the head with a hammer.

But, seriously, it's big.

But, mass may be a different story. Either way, all of the info is mind-boggling.

[edit on 5-2-2010 by SonofFenris]

Thanks for the reply I did not know about Canis Majoris that is interesting.

And Mass is def a different story think of it this way if you compare the size of a small stone and a blown up balloon, the balloon is much larger but the smaller rock has more weight/mass. So this must be one heavy star they found.

I thought the find was larger than Canis Majoris. Either way, this video helps put it all in perspective.

Planet - Star Size comparison

Monster star R136a1 is whopping 265 times bigger than the Sun
www.news.com.au...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/804cf100b5ca.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 7/22/2010 by this_is_who_we_are]