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R136a1 facts for kids

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R136a1 star
A near infrared image of the R136 cluster. R136a1 is at the center with R136a2 close by, R136a3 below right, and R136b to the left. ESO/VLT
Tarantula Nebula TRAPPIST
The Tarantula nebula

R136a1 is the most massive and luminous known star. It is a Wolf–Rayet star at the center of R136.

Ri36 is the central group of stars of the large NGC 2070 open cluster in the Tarantula nebula. The nebula lies about 50 kiloparsecs (163,000 light-years) in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

R136a1 has 265 the mass of the Sun, and 8.7 million times its luminosity. It is also one of the hottest at over 50,000 K. The cluster is only about 1.5 million years old, and is pouring out a huge amount of energy. Together, they outshine our Sun by a factor of 30 million.

The star is the largest of nine huge stars in the cluster.

Images for kids

  • ESO - Eso1030a (by)

    Zooming in from the Tarantula Nebula to the R136 cluster, with R136a1/2/3 visible as the barely resolved knot at bottom right

  • R136a1 sky position

    Sky position of R136a1 viewed from Argentina

  • Comparison of the sizes of a red dwarf, the Sun, a B-type main sequence star, and R136a1

    Left to right: a red dwarf, the Sun, a B-type main sequence star, and R136a1

  • Size comparison between R136a1 and sun

    A size comparison between R136a1 and the Sun

  • Grand star-forming region R136 in NGC 2070 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope)

    The R136 cluster in a massive star forming region in the LMC

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: R136a1 para niños

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