What is meant by Chandrasekhar limit?
Chandrasekhar determined what is known as the Chandrasekhar limit—that a star having a mass more than 1.44 times that of the Sun does not form a white dwarf but instead continues to collapse, blows off its gaseous envelope in a supernova explosion, and becomes a neutron star.
What is the meaning of the Chandrasekhar limit explain the key role it plays in the evolution of massive stars?
The Chandrasekhar Limit is now accepted to be approximately 1.4 times the mass of the sun; any white dwarf with less than this mass will stay a white dwarf forever, while a star that exceeds this mass is destined to end its life in that most violent of explosions: a supernova.
What is Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar best known for?
Chandrasekhar — an Indian-born scientist who spent 50 years at the University of Chicago — is most famous for coming up with the theory that explains the death of the universe’s most massive stars. Before Chandrasekhar, scientists assumed that all stars collapsed into white dwarfs when they died.
What did Chandrasekhar discover?
Lived 1910 – 1995. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an astrophysicist. He discovered that massive stars can collapse under their own gravity to reach enormous or even infinite densities. Today we call these collapsed stars neutron stars and black holes.
What is M in Chandrasekhar limit?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Chandrasekhar limit (/tʃʌndrəˈseɪkər/) is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 M ☉ (2.765×1030 kg).
What is meaning of Chandrashekhar?
The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the name comes from the Sanskrit words “चन्द्र (candra)”, meaning “moon”, and “शेखर (śekhara)”, meaning “crest” or “crown”, which is an epithet of the Shiva.
What is Chandrasekhar unit?
The Chandrasekhar limit (/tʃʌndrəˈseɪkər/) is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 M ☉ (2.765×1030 kg).
What is Chandrasekhar limit Upsc?
Chandrasekhar Limit is the maximum mass theoretically possible for a stable white dwarf star. A limit which mandates that no white dwarf (a collapsed, degenerate star) can be more massive than about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun.
What is Chandrasekhar limit class 11?
Definition of Chandrasekhar limit : the maximum mass at which a star near the end of its life cycle can become a white dwarf and above which the star will collapse to form a neutron star or black hole : a stellar mass equal to about 1.4 solar masses.
What subject is Chandrasekhar best known for studying?
Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his studies on the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars. Chandrasekhar accepted this honor, but was upset the citation mentioned only his earliest work, seeing it as a denigration of a lifetime’s achievement.
How was Chandrasekhar limit discovered?
The limit was named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Chandrasekhar improved upon the accuracy of the calculation in 1930 by calculating the limit for a polytrope model of a star in hydrostatic equilibrium, and comparing his limit to the earlier limit found by E. C. Stoner for a uniform density star.
What causes the Chandrasekhar limit?
The Chandrasekhar Limit of 1.4 solar masses, is the theoretical maximum mass a white dwarf star can have and still remain a white dwarf (though this limit does vary slightly depending on the metallicity).
What is the Chandrasekhar limit in astronomy?
(Show more) Chandrasekhar limit, in astrophysics, maximum mass theoretically possible for a stable white dwarf star. This limiting value was named for the Indian-born astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who formulated it in 1930.
Do white dwarf stars have mass less than the Chandrasekhar limit?
All direct mass determinations of actual white dwarf stars have resulted in masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit. A star that ends its nuclear-burning lifetime with a mass greater than the Chandrasekhar limit must become either a neutron star or a black hole.
How did Chandrasekhar calculate the density of a star?
Chandrasekhar improved upon the accuracy of the calculation in 1930 by calculating the limit for a polytrope model of a star in hydrostatic equilibrium, and comparing his limit to the earlier limit found by E. C. Stoner for a uniform density star.
What is Chandrasekhar’s contribution to astrophysics?
Furthermore, an expert like Willhelm Anderson and E.C. Stoner have termed it after the famous Indian astrophysicist, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who made major independent discoveries on enhancing the computation.