Star Life Cycles - Impossible Stars

Stars and Nebulae

Index

Interstellar Clouds
Classes of Objects
Gas Giant Planets
Brown Dwarfs
Red Dwarfs
Sun-sized Stars
Large Stars
The Largest Stars
Impossible Stars
Star Clusters
Planetary Systems
Rocky Planets
An Endless Cycle


Questions
Credits
Links

Michael Gallagher
August 2002
July 2007

Stars heavier than 120 solar masses have not been discovered. For a time, astronomers thought they were seeing 1,000 solar mass stars in nearby galaxies, but when better telescopes became available in the 1990s, those objects were found to be dense clusters of 100 solar mass stars.

Current theory tells us that once a star exceeds the 120 solar mass limit, the blast of its solar wind prevents the infall of further material.