ˌchəndrəˈshā(ˌ)kär- noun
Usage: usually capitalized C
Etymology: after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar died 1995 American (Indian-born) physicist
: the maximum mass at which a star near the end of its life cycle can become a white dwarf and above which the star will collapse to form a neutron star or black hole : a stellar mass equal to about 1.4 solar masses