Zooming Into Star Cluster RMC 136a [720p]

Using a combination of instruments on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date, some weighing at birth more than 300 times the mass of the Sun, or twice as much as the currently accepted limit of 150 solar masses. The most extreme of these stars was found in the cluster RMC 136a (more often nicknamed R136). Named R136a1, it is found to have a current mass of 265 times that of the Sun. Being a little over a million years old, R136a1 is already "middle-aged" and has undergone an intense weight-loss program, shedding a fifth of its initial mass over that time, or more than fifty solar masses. It also has the highest luminosity, close to ten million times greater than the Sun.

R136 is a cluster of young, massive and hot stars located inside the Tarantula Nebula, in one of the Milky Way's neighboring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, 165 000 light-years away. This video zooms into the R136 cluster as seen with the MAD adaptive optics instrument on the Very Large Telescope, starting from a wider view obtained with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope.

credit: ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans

source: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1030a/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• European Southern Observatory
• largest star
• RMC 136a
• Tarantula Nebula

[stjester]

"a star that outshines the sun as much as the sun outshines the moon" what a stupid analogy

[djxatlanta]

@stjester - And your recommendation would be... what? Astronomical concepts go over the head of many ordinary folks, and although I didn't write this analogy, I usually have to resort to simple (and sometimes cheesy) metaphors to explain astronomy to my friends. I see that you're a chemist -- I would be very surprised if you didn't have similar relational analogies to explain chemistry to your non-scientific friends. =)

[crazymelkor]

@djxatlanta It's a pity really that the public isn't more interested in science. It would have been much easier to justify funding science and who knows what new discoveries could have been made? A star, 8,700,000 times the brightness of the sun - strange universe. It's funny - I was speaking to an economist a few days ago who lamented the public's lack of knowledge on economics as well. He said, perhaps if such economics were well known to the public, we would not be in a recession right now.

[djxatlanta]

@crazymelkor - Looking at humans as a whole, we pretty much act just like every organism on this planet -- we reproduce, consume energy and create waste. We are more advanced than most species in that we have commerce, act proactively on future events and are capable of compassion and empathy. However, at our stage of evolution, not everyone shares a curiosity in extraterrestrial matters -- either out of incomprehension or its perceived lack of practicality compared to everyday matters.

[crazymelkor]

@djxatlanta That is something that I agree. The problem is if our narrow, short-term thinking may prove to be a fatal flaw. There are plenty of instances of civilizations ignoring consequences and then collapsing. I wonder if we are ignoring the magnitude of global warming for example. The other question is will we ever become that wise? Evolving intelligence or perhaps through genetic engineering augmenting it does not assure that most humans will use it to anywhere near its full potential.

[djxatlanta]

@crazymelkor - well, the magnitude of all the problems facing humanity in the next couple centuries are such that they're incomprehensible and unbelievable to most people, especially when they sound just as crazy as conspiracy theories. But as you pointed out, history is full of examples where warnings were either underestimated, misunderstood or ignored altogether. I'm glad I won't be alive to see the worst of it, but I'm sorry to see its beginning.

[JohnD20004]

Amazing. There are a couple of other huge stars in the same system.