One of the most massive stars known is Eta Carinae , which , with 100 – 150 times as much mass as the Sun , will have a lifespan of only several million years . Studies of the most massive open clusters suggests 150 M ☉ as an upper limit for stars in the current era of the universe . This represents an empirical value for the theoretical limit on the mass of forming stars due to increasing radiation pressure on the accreting gas cloud . Several stars in the R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud have been measured with larger masses , but it has been determined that they could have been created through the collision and merger of massive stars in close binary systems , sidestepping the 150 M ☉ limit on massive star formation .