Cosmic Scale
R136a1
Wolf–Rayet star · 163,000 light-years
How big is R136a1?
R136a1 is about 5.9 × 10⁷ km across.
See R136a1 in 3D, at true scale
R136a1 is the most massive star known: around 200 Suns packed into a Wolf–Rayet star in the Tarantula Nebula. It is so luminous that it would outshine our Sun by millions of times.
At a glance
| Diameter | 5.9 × 10⁷ km |
|---|---|
| Mass | 3.90 × 10³² kg |
| Diameter compared with Earth | 4,660 × Earth |
| Distance | 163,000 light-years |
| Brightness | 4.6 million Suns |
| Age | 1–2 million years |
Good to know
- It loses more mass in a year than the Sun does in a million.
- Sharper images in 2022 lowered the mass estimate — crowded fields can make several stars look like one.
- Stars this heavy live only a few million years before collapsing.