Washington-Sana
A new image of the largest known star in the universe revealed that it is not as massive as it was previously reported.
Agence France-Presse reported that scientists were able to capture the clearest picture of the star “R136a1” by the “Gemini 8.1 m” telescope in Chile, which is part of the Gemini International Observatory managed by Noir Lab of the US National Science Foundation.
Previous studies had indicated that the mass of the star “R136a1” is greater than the mass of the sun by about 250 to 320 times, but the new image indicates that its mass may range from only 170 to 230 times the mass of the sun.
According to astronomers, the results indicate that the upper limit of the star's masses may also be smaller than previously thought.
Previous telescopic observations of the massive star were unable to obtain images accurate enough to capture all of the individual stellar members from the nearby cluster.
