How Does a ‘Neutron Star’ Form and Why Is It So Dense?

A neutron star is like a super-compressed giant. When a big star runs out of fuel, it explodes in a supernova, and the core collapses into something incredibly tight, that’s a neutron star. It's so dense because all the matter gets squished together like a sponge being squeezed into a marble.

Take the quiz →

Examples

Imagine if a neutron star were like a giant marble, one teaspoon would weigh as much as 10 million tons on Earth!
Neutron stars are so dense that they can be created when big stars explode in a supernova, squishing their cores into something tiny.
If Earth were the size of a neutron star, it might fit inside a basketball, and you’d have to wear a helmet for the density!

Ask a question

Discussion

Recent activity

Categories: Space · neutron stars,stellar evolution,density,astronomy,space phenomena