Share
Chandrasekhar Limit
A mass of about 1.4 Sol, the maximum for white dwarfs. A white dwarf of greater mass has too great a central pressure and cannot support itself, causing collapse into a denser object like a neutron star or black hole.
 
Related Articles
  • Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Old Earth Indian-American astrophysicist, 59 BT - 26 AT (1910 -1995 c.e.), who studied stellar physics, evolution, and black holes. He realized that the fate of dying stars depended upon their mass, and above a certain point (1.4 times Sol mass, known as the "Chandrasekhar limit"), a star will undergo extreme collapse and not simply becomes a white dwarf. There are a number of asteroids, habitats, ships, one black hole, and several black hole observatories named in his honor.
 
Appears in Topics
 
Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 24 September 2001.

 
 
>