Neutron Stars: The Densest Objects in Space

Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of massive stars that exploded in supernovae.
They cram more mass than the Sun into a sphere only about 20 kilometers wide.
A sugar-cube-sized piece of neutron star material would weigh billions of tons.
Neutron stars are made almost entirely of neutrons packed tightly together.
Some spin incredibly fast—hundreds of times per second—becoming pulsars that beam radio waves.
Their magnetic fields can be trillions of times stronger than Earth’s.
When two neutron stars collide, they release powerful gravitational waves and heavy elements like gold.
Despite their density, neutron stars still have a thin atmosphere of hot plasma.
They represent one of the final possible stages of stellar evolution.
If a neutron star gains too much mass, it can collapse further into a black hole.