R136a1 - The most massive known star in the Universe

This is the star R1361a found in the constellation of Dorado in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The star has a mass of around 265 times that of our Sun, but it could have been even larger at the time of its birth - maybe as much as 320 times that of the Sun. We show you a rough visualisation of these kinds of scales from the Earth, past the Sun, up to R136a1. Amazing. Larger stars exist (in terms of size, such as VY Canis Majoris), but are none not as massive as R136a1 Learn more at www.science-wars.com