R136a1

astronomy

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 19, 2026

Quick Summary

R136a1 is a star with an exceptionally large mass, estimated to be around 265 times the mass of our Sun, though it may have had as much as 320 solar masses when it formed. This places it at the extreme upper limit for the mass of stars that can sustain nuclear fusion, a limit known as the Eddington limit. For context, most stars have masses between 0.3 and 3 solar masses. R136a1 is located within the Tarantula Nebula, a vast region of ionized hydrogen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Eddington mass limit
…mass determined to date is R136a1, a giant of about 265 solar masses that had as much as 320 solar masses when it was formed. The Eddington mass limit explains why stars much larger than this have not been observed. In the case of an accretion disk, the outward pressure…
Read More
…mass determined to date is R136a1, a giant of about 265 solar masses that had as much as 320 solar masses when it was formed. The Eddington mass limit explains why stars much larger than this have not been observed. In the case of an accretion disk, the outward pressure…
Read More

Very Large Telescope
…the most massive star known, R136a1, which has a mass 320 times that of the Sun. The VLT is operated by the European Southern Observatory, an astrophysical research organization supported by 16 European countries.
Read More
…the most massive star known, R136a1, which has a mass 320 times that of the Sun. The VLT is operated by the European Southern Observatory, an astrophysical research organization supported by 16 European countries.
Read More