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https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2019/09/16/wvu-astronomers-help-detect-the-most-massive-neutron-star-ever-measured [wvu.edu]

West Virginia University researchers have helped discover the most massive neutron star to date, a breakthrough uncovered through the Green Bank Telescope in Pocahontas County.

The neutron star, called J0740+6620, is a rapidly spinning pulsar that packs 2.17 times the mass of the sun (which is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth) into a sphere only 20-30 kilometers, or about 15 miles, across. This measurement approaches the limits of how massive and compact a single object can become without crushing itself down into a black hole.

The star was detected approximately 4,600 light-years from Earth. One light-year is about six trillion miles.

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