Most Massive Star Discovered

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Most Massive Star Discovered
Hubble Space Telescope images of the young star cluster NGC 3603 showing the position of the newly-weighed most massive star "A1" and its companion "C". (Image credit: HST/Universite de Montreal)

The mostmassive star known in the universe has been discovered and "weighed,"astronomers announced today.

The star, partof a binarysystem, topped the scales at 114 times the mass of the sun.

Andrea Thompson
Andrea Thompson
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Andrea Thompson is an associate editor at Scientific American, where she covers sustainability, energy and the environment. Prior to that, she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science, where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment. She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University, as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.