By Ron Cowen
Astronomers have found what may be the heaviest, biggest, and brightest star ever observed. The star, known as LBV 1806-20, may weigh more than 150 times as much as the sun, span 200 times its width, and shine up to 40 million times as brightly.
Residing 45,000 light-years from Earth and blocked by dust, the star appears dim in visible light. But at the infrared wavelengths studied by Stephen S. Eikenberry of the University of Florida in Gainesville and his colleagues, about 10 percent of the star’s radiation penetrates the dust. Eikenberry reported the team’s finding on Jan. 6 in Atlanta at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.