Chandrasekhar limit
A limit which mandates that no white dwarf (a
collapsed, degenerate star) can be more massive than about 1.4 solar masses.
Any degenerate object more massive must inevitably collapse into a neutron star.
The Chandrasekhar limit is the
maximum mass of a stable white
dwarf star. It was
named after Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar, the Indian-American astrophysicist who predicted it in 1930. White dwarfs,
unlike main
sequence stars,
resist gravitational collapse primarily through electron degeneracy pressure, rather
than thermal pressure. The Chandrasekhar limit is the
mass above which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is
insufficient to balance the star's own gravitational self-attraction.
Consequently, white dwarfs with masses greater than the limit undergo further
gravitational collapse, evolving into a different type of stellar
remnant, such as a neutron
star or black
hole. Those with masses under the limit remain stable as white dwarfs.The currently accepted value of
the limit is about 2.864 × 1030 kg.
Source: wikipedia, NASA
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