The R136 star cluster dissected with Hubble Space Telescope/STIS. III. The most massive stars and their clumped winds

Understand

Context: The star cluster R136 inside the LMC hosts a rich population of massive stars, including the most massive stars known.

• The strong stellar winds of these very luminous stars impact their evolution and the surrounding environment.
• We currently lack detailed knowledge of the wind structure that is needed to quantify this impact.
• Aims: To observationally constrain the stellar and wind properties of the massive stars in R136, in particular the parameters related to wind clumping.