22/07/2010 12:11
The brightest star ever discovered
The most massive star ever, which is up to 20 million times brighter than the Sun, has been discovered using the Very Large Telescope in Chile, scientists in Britain told media Wednesday.
Named R136a1, the star is thought to have started off with a mass of up to 320 times that of the Sun.
Euronews quoted Britain’s foremost broadcaster on astronomy Sir Patrick Moore as saying: ‘‘The reaction among astronomers is very interesting, there’s a limit to which a star can go before blowing itself to bits and this star, 250 times as massive as the sun, is not very far off that.’‘