NGC 3603-A1
NGC 3603-A1 is a massive, double-eclipsing binary star system located in NGC 3603, about 20,000 light years from Earth. Its two component stars circle each other every 3.77 days. The mass of NGC 3603-A1a is 116 ± 31 solar masses and 89 ± 16 solar masses for NGC 3603-A1b.[2] This makes them the two most massive stars directly measured so far, i.e. their masses have been determined (using Keplerian orbits), and not estimated. Both show an emission-line spectrum (spectral type WN6h). The stars were identified and their masses calculated by a team from the Université de Montréal.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h The very massive binary NGC 3603-A1, O. Schnurr, J. Casoli, A.-N. Chené, A.F.J. Moffat, N. St-Louis, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 389, #1 (July 30, 2008), pp. L38–L42.
- ^ Daily Mail (London), "Pictured: The cosmic factory that created the largest known star in our galaxy", Claire Bates, 4 February 2010 (accessed 4 February 2010)
External links