We see that the weights of these stars do not differ greatly from that
of the sun, although naturally the whole of space provides a greater
range than the four stars of our table which happen to be near the sun.
But even in the whole of space, no star whose weight is known with any
accuracy has a weight less than Kruger 60 _B_, although at the other
end of the scale there are many stars with far greater weights than any
in our table. Of stars whose weights are known with fair accuracy, the
star H.D. 1337 (Pearce’s star) is the weightiest, its two components
being respectively 36·3 and 33·8 times as heavy as the sun. Plaskett’s
star B.D. 6° 1309 is certainly heavier still, its components weighing
at least 75 and 63 times as much as the sun, and probably more; the
exact weights are not known (see p. 55 below). The system 27 Canis
Majoris consists of four stars, whose combined weight, according to the
evidence at present available, appears to be at least 940 times that
of the sun, but we may properly exercise a certain amount of caution
before accepting a figure so far outside the usual run of stellar
weights.
The average constituent star in the above very short table has 0·94
times the weight of the sun, so that our sun appears to be of rather
more than average weight, and this is confirmed by a more extensive
study of stellar weights.
We might have expected _a priori_ that the stars would prove to have
all sorts of weights, for there is no obvious reason why stars should
not exist with weights millions of times that of the sun, or again with
weights only equal to that of the earth or less. Actually we find that
the weights of the stars are mostly fairly equal, very few stars having
weights greatly dissimilar from that of the sun. This seems to indicate
that a star is a definite species of astronomical product, not a mere
random chunk of luminous matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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