Scientists have spotted what may be the heaviest star ever discovered — hundreds of times bigger than the sun.
The star, called R136a1, may once have weighed as much as 320 times the weight of our Sun.
Astrophysicist Paul Crowther said the star — twice as heavy as any previously discovered — his now considerably smaller than it once was.
In fact it is burning itself off with such intensity that it shines with nearly 10 million times the brightness of the Sun.
‘Unlike humans, these stars are born heavy and lose weight as they age,’ said Professor Crowther, an astrophysicist at the University of Sheffield.
‘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.’
