What do you know about the Chandrasekhar limit?

The maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star is called the Chandrasekhar limit . The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 solar masses. The limit was named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the Indian astrophysicist who, at 20 years old, improved upon the calculation’s accuracy 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.

Primarily through electron degeneracy pressure, white dwarfs resist gravitational collapse. The Chandrasekhar limit is the mass above which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is inadequate to balance the star's own gravitational self-attraction. Consequently, a white dwarf with a mass greater than the limit is subject to further gravitational collapse, evolving into a different type of stellar remnant, such as a neutron star or black hole. Those with masses under the limit remain stable as white dwarfs.

Some people may be confused when they hear this term but this is a term that is used to describe the maximum stable mass that a white dwarf star is going to have. The current Chandrasekhar limit is at 1.4 M☉. If the star reaches beyond the limit, it has two options.

The first option is that it will collapse and become a neutron star. This will occur if there is fusion that will occur. The second option will happen if the star’s mass is too heavy for it. It will become a black hole. Most stars usually become neutron stars but there are also some that contribute to the black holes that can be found in the universe.