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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/astro-chandrasekhar-limit

What is the most mass a white dwarf can have, the Chandrasekhar limit?

About 1.4 solar masses.

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  1. About 1.4 solar masses ✔
  2. About 0.08 solar masses
  3. About 8 solar masses

Why: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar showed that heavier white dwarfs are smaller. At about 1.4 solar masses, theory gives a radius of zero, so no white dwarf can be heavier than that.

Huh, didn't know that: Sirius B, the faint companion of the bright star Sirius A, is a white dwarf.

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A white dwarf can only hold so much. It has a strict weight limit.
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References

Answer: About 1.4 solar masses. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar showed that heavier white dwarfs are smaller. At about 1.4 solar masses, theory gives a radius of zero, so no white dwarf can be heavier than that.

  1. Astronomy 2e, 23.1 The Death of Low-Mass Stars openstax.org/books/astronomy-2e/pages/23-1-the-death-of-low-mass-stars
    a white dwarf with a mass of about 1.4 M Sun or larger would have a radius of zero.
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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