2006/12/31 by J. Maíz Apellániz, J. Maiz Apellaniz, Nolan R. Walborn +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Binary number #Binary star #Cluster (spacecraft) #History and Developments in Astronomy #Limit (mathematics) #Mass segregation #Solar mass #Star cluster #Stellar evolution #Stellar mass #Stellar mass loss #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/513098
16 pages, 3 figures, accepted in ApJ, second astro-ph version reflects changes suggested by referee
arxiv created 2007/01/22 · openalex publication_date 2007/05/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Is there a stellar upper mass limit? Recent statistical work seems to indicate that there is and that it is in the vicinity of 150 M ☉ . In this paper we use HST and ground-based data to investigate the brightest members of the cluster Pismis 24, one of which (Pismis 24-1) was previously inferred to have a mass greater than 200 M ☉ , in apparent disagreement with that limit. We determine that Pismis 24-1 is composed of at least three objects, the resolved Pismis 24-1SW and the unresolved spectroscopic binary Pismis 24-1NE. The evolutionary zero-age masses of Pismis 24-1SW, the unresolved system Pismis 24-1NE, and the nearby star Pismis 24-17 are all ≈100 M ☉ , very large but under the stellar upper mass limit.