What are the minimum and maximum masses of neutron stars and white dwarfs?

The maximum masses for both of these is 1.4 times the Sun, but if they are rotating, they can have masses up to twice this 'Chandrasekhar/Oppenheimer- Volkov' limit. I believe that the lower mass limits for white dwarfs are near 0.7 solar masses, but for neutron stars I do not know if there are reliable estimates because to get them they would have to be members of binary stars. The famous Taylor-Hulse binary pulsar has individual neutron star masses near 1.2 times the mass of the Sun or there abouts.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.