VFTS 682
Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)
A very massive star living almost alone
A giant of nearly 140 solar masses sitting by itself in the Tarantula Nebula, well outside the crowded R136 cluster. It is most likely a slow runaway, kicked out of that core. Thick dust dims it to a faint smudge despite an immense true brightness.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
138 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
3.2 million ×
as bright as the Sun
54,450 K
surface · blue
20 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
163,000 ly
from Earth
16.1
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 3.2 million times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 163,000 years to reach us, so you see VFTS 682 as it was 163,000 years ago.
Source · Bestenlehner et al. 2011, A&A 530, L14 · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Large Magellanic Cloud
Irregular galaxy, 163,000 ly away.
Other notable stars in Large Magellanic Cloud
R136a1Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)R136a2Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)Melnick 42O-type supergiant (O2 If)HD 269810O-type giant (O2 III)Melnick 34Wolf-Rayet binary (WN5h + WN5h)S DoradusLuminous blue variable
Stars of similar brightness
Melnick 42O-type supergiant (O2 If)3.6 million ×Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variable4.0 million ×HD 269810O-type giant (O2 III)2.2 million ×HD 5980Wolf-Rayet + blue-variable system2.2 million ×Melnick 34Wolf-Rayet binary (WN5h + WN5h)2.0 million ×R136a2Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)5.2 million ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→