posted on Jul, 21 2011 @ 10:18 AM
Maybe someone of a higher mind than me can explain this to me...
This is the highest mass star they know of presently:
www.sciencenews.org ...
At birth it was about 320 solar masses. It's named R136a1. That's more than twice what is considered the limit for a birthing star. This link explains
that stars which formed in the young universe were more massive and it was thought that stars of this mass would not be found anymore. Several links
allude to the fact that most believe these hulking stars are the results of merging more than one star into one big star. This, I believe, is probably
linked to the understanding that stars of this mass could only be singularly produced in the young universe.
The Eddington Limit essentially says that when a star is larger than 150 solar masses the growing core of energy outpaces the gravity and this
inevitably leads to the star ripping itself apart.
So what does it mean when a star is 320 solar masses? I would presume that this would mean it would expand outward at a rapid rate and be torn apart
quicker than a star that was only 155 solar masses.
That link also says that these stars which are 150 solar masses or more end in pair-instability supernovas, not normal supernovas which are associated
with the lower mass stars.
So does this finding indicate that the more recent universe can produce massive stars like was thought to be the case for the young universe or
instead that we've been lucky enough to find a star at the very edges of the eddington limit, rapidly killing itself as it outpaces its own gravity,
and which is the result of a merging of stars in previous times into a single impressive solar mass.
edit on 21-7-2011 by jonnywhite because:
(no reason given)