Astronomers Discover A Young Massive Star Which Is 30 Times Bigger Than Sun

In a major breakthrough, astronomers have discovered a newborn star in the galaxy which they claim is already 30 times bigger than the Sun. The astronomers are hoping that the study of the newly found star, which is located approximately 11,000 light-years away from Earth, will offer more insight into the origin of the stars and the universe.

Big Kid: Massive Star Spotted Early in Life https://t.co/wwPcrkkhfB pic.twitter.com/2GECnEbZOP

— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) August 24, 2016

According to the team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, the baby star is still in the process of collecting material from its parent cloud of gas and dust. It is expected that once the protostar enters the adult phase, it will grow out to be more massive. The astronomers found the star, initially named G11.92-0.61 MM1, using the telescopes Submillimetre Array (SMA) in Hawaii and the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. The two telescopes have longer wavelengths than normal telescopes and allowed the researchers to see through the cloud and into the stellar nursery where the protostar resides in a cold and dense region, reported ScienceAlert.

Dr. John Ilee, lead author of the study from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, explained that it takes a few million years for the formation of an average star like the sun, but, gigantic stars, like the one discovered recently, take only around 100,000 years to form. He added that it is very difficult for the astronomers to study such protostars as they burn their fuel faster and tend to have shorter life-spans.

During the study, the research team found that MM1 is surrounded by a "Keplerian disc" which is a large disc of matter that rotates more quickly at its center than at its edge. Llee said that such type of rotation is also observed in the solar system where the inner planets rotate around the sun faster than the outer planets. He added that it was interesting to find a disc around a massive young star as it suggests that the heavyweight stars are formed in a similar way to lower mass stars, like the Sun, reported Space.com.

The researchers are planning to use the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) in Chile in the near future to check the region and find if there are more companion stars hiding inside the extremely dense disc. The research findings have been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.