ELI5: what is a neutron star
// explanation
What is a neutron star?
A neutron star is what's left over when a really, really big star explodes and dies [1][4]. Imagine squeezing all the stuff from the Sun into a ball the size of a city—that's how dense and heavy a neutron star is [2][3].
How does a neutron star form?
When a supermassive star runs out of fuel, it can't hold itself up anymore, so it collapses and explodes in a huge explosion called a supernova [1][4]. What's left behind gets crushed down into an incredibly tiny, super-heavy ball [2].
Why are neutron stars so special?
Neutron stars are the densest things in space that we can actually see and study—they pack more mass than our entire Sun into a sphere only about 12 miles wide [2][5]. A spoonful of neutron star stuff would weigh as much as a mountain on Earth [3].
Can we visit one?
No, they're way too far away and too dangerous to visit [1]. But scientists study them with telescopes to learn amazing things about how space and matter work [2].
// sources
Neutron stars are the incredibly dense remnants of supermassive stars that have exploded as supernovae. A star's evolution and ultimate fate depend in large ...
A neutron star is the densest object astronomers can observe directly, crushing half a million times Earth's mass into a sphere about 12 miles across.
Mar 12, 2024 ... A neutron star is extraordinarily dense, packing more mass than the entire Sun (1.5 to 2.5 solar masses) in a globe with a diameter of 10-15 km.
A neutron star is the gravitationally collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a massive star.
6 days ago ... Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the cosmos. They average only about 12 miles in diameter but are denser than our sun.
Video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Video by Astrum Extra
Video by SEA
![The Insane Science of Neutron Stars [4K]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qX6h72IyKSo/mqdefault.jpg)