Most massive stars in Universe discovered

21 July 2010 Last updated at 05:19 ET Help

Astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date.

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, they found one which at birth had more than 300 times the mass of the Sun and is 10 million times more luminous.

This video shows R136, a cluster of young, massive and hot stars located inside the Tarantula Nebula, in one of the Milky Way's neighbouring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The study is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Astronomer Maggie Aderin-Pocock explains why the discovery is significant.

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