section_path: Characteristics/Mass
section_name: Mass
paragraph_text: Mass
  
  Stars have masses ranging from less than half the solar mass to over 200 solar masses (see List of most massive stars).One of the most massive stars known is Eta Carinae, which, with 100–150 times as much mass as the Sun, will have a lifespan of only several million years. Studies of the most massive open clusters suggests 150 M as a rough upper limit for stars in the current era of the universe. Thisrepresents an empirical value for the theoretical limit on the mass of forming stars due to increasing radiation pressure on the accreting gas cloud. Several stars in the R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud have been measured with larger masses, butit has been determined that they could have been created through the collision and merger of massive stars in close binary systems, sidestepping the 150 M limit on massive star formation.
  
  The first stars to form after the Big Bang may have been larger, up to 300 M, dueto the complete absence of elements heavier than lithium in their composition. This generation of supermassive population III stars is likely to have existed in the very early universe (i.e., they are observed to have a high redshift), and may have started the production of chemical elements heavier than hydrogen that are needed for the later formation of planets and life. In June 2015, astronomers reported evidence for Population III stars in the Cosmos Redshift 7 galaxy at z = 6.60.
  
  With a mass only 80 times that of Jupiter (M), 2MASS J0523-1403 is the smallest known star undergoing nuclear fusion in its core. Forstars with metallicity similar to the Sun, the theoretical minimum mass the star can have and still undergo fusion at the core, is estimated to be about 75 M. When the metallicity is very low, the minimum star size seems to be about 8.3% of the solar mass, or about 87 M. Smaller bodies called brown dwarfs, occupy a poorly defined grey area between stars and gas giants.
  
  The combination of the radius and the mass of a star determines its surface gravity. Giant stars have a much lower surface gravity than do main sequence stars, while the opposite is the case for degenerate, compact stars such as white dwarfs. The surface gravity can influence the appearance of a star's spectrum, with higher gravity causing a broadening of the absorption lines.