Chandrasekhar limit 

The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass of a white dwarf, and is approximately 3 × 10³⁰ kg, around 1.4 times the mass of the Sun.

The heat generated by a star pushes the atmosphere of the star out. As the star runs out of fuel the atmosphere collapses back on the star's core. If the star has a mass below the Chandrasekhar limit this collapse is limited by electron degeneracy pressure, which results in a stable white dwarf. If the star has a mass above the Chandrasekhar limit it has sufficient gravity to collapse past the white dwarf stage and become a neutron star or black hole.

The Chandrasekhar limit arises from taking account of the effects of special relativity in considering the behaviour of the electrons providing the degeneracy pressure supporting the white dwarf. In the classical approximation a white dwarf may be arbitrarily massive with its volume inversely proportional to its mass. In the relativistic calculation the typical energies to which degeneracy pressure forces the electrons in a massive white dwarf are non-negligible relative to their rest masses and a limiting mass emerges for a self-gravitating, spherically symmetric body supported by degeneracy pressure.

If a white dwarf in a binary system with a giant star accretes enough material to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit, the star collapses and becomes a type I supernova.

The limit was calculated by the Indian physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

McCunn from Glasgow." "You don't even know.html">know my name," she said. "We don't," said Heritage. "They call me Saskia. This," nodding to the chair, "is my cousin I do not know you. You cannot help me." "We can try," said Heritage. "Part of your trouble we know already We are here to help you to get out. We want to ask no questions- man--and a little boy. There are many against us, and any.

 On wordlookup.net  

All is still licensed under the GNU FDL.
It uses material from the wikipedia.