Pismis 24, the star cluster seen right here in a picture launched on Dec. 11, 2006, lies inside the a lot bigger emission nebula referred to as NGC 6357, positioned about 8,000 light-years from Earth. The brightest object within the image was as soon as considered a single star with an extremely giant mass of 200 to 300 photo voltaic lots. That might have made it by far probably the most large recognized star within the galaxy and would have put it significantly above the at the moment believed higher mass restrict of about 150 photo voltaic lots for particular person stars. Measurements from NASA’s Hubble House Telescope, nonetheless, found that Pismis 24-1 is actually two separate stars, and, in doing so, “halved” their mass to round 100-150 photo voltaic lots every.
Picture credit score: NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain); Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)