How big can a star get? According to newly-published research from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the most massive a star can get is between 120 and 150 times the mass of our sun. The new findings really narrow the possiblities, because previously astronomers thought that stars could be anywhere from 10 to 1000 the sun's mass, while some astronomers have argued that there is no mass limit at all. "This will heat up the debate. It is a clear indication that there is an upper limit," says Pavel Kroupa at the University of Bonn, Germany. Knowing the upper limit of a stars mass will help astronomers make better predictions of the masses of other galaxies, and further our understanding of how stars are formed. Link.
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