Scientists discover monster star

[madmom]

(CNN) -- Imagine a star so luminous that it would burn the Earth up if it were anywhere near, a star that outshines the sun as much as the sun outshines the moon. A monster even in the abyss of space.

The star is not some scientist's celestial dream. Astronomers used a Very Large Telescope -- the instrument's official name -- to detect the most massive star discovered to date. In scientific lingo, it's a "hypergiant."

Several of the stars studied had surface temperatures of 40,000 degrees, more than seven times hotter than the sun.

R136a1 is rare and resides in another galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its home is more than 165,000 light years away from Earth's Milky Way galaxy. As such, said Crowther, it is not visible to the naked eye, nor with a rooftop telescope.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/07/21/monster.star/?hpt=Sbin#fbid=6asXokM2yO1

[rug]

1. Kirstie Alley is no longer a star.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. Scientific lingo sort of fails on this one.

It's hypermassive, not hypergiant. There are known stars of larger size, but with lower mass.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. I agree

Is this the state of journalism in America today? Are there no reasonably trained editors anymore?

The article states that this newly discovered star would fry the Earth if it were anywhere close. It must be news to the writer and editor that any star will fry the Earth if it is close enough and that our own Sun will eventually fry the Earth when it enters the latter period of its life.

[shireen]

6. science journalism is gasping for air

i belong to the national association of science writers, and trade is suffering badly. science writer lay-offs at newspapers and tv/radio are the norm. freelance jobs are scarce. a sad sad turn of events.

but lindsey lohan coverage? no problem ....

[jgraz]

4. Never pass up a good excuse to post this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q

Keep in mind: the last star in the video is only 30-40 solar masses. R136a1 is 265 solar masses.

[Urban Prairie]

5. I can only imagine the gargantuan black hole that it will become after it dies

Maybe they could have described it better, if they would instead have said that the star would ignite and burn most, if not all of the outermost planets in our solar system into a crisp and perhaps absorb Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, if it were in the same place relative to where our sun is.

[MilesColtrane]

7. But, we already knew about Mel Gibson.

Fortunately, his "star" days are over.