Related topics: stars · galaxies · neutron stars · black holes · star formation

Astronomers witness a dying star reach its explosive end

For the very first time, astronomers have imaged in real time the dramatic end to a red supergiant's life, watching the massive star's rapid self-destruction and final death throes before it collapsed into a Type II supernova.

Hunting for dead stars

Neutron stars are tiny in size, but almost incomprehensibly dense. Actually, they are stellar corpses, but they still have enough life in them to show some of the most exciting phenomena you can find in space.

Image: Nebula churns out massive stars in new Hubble image

Stars are born from turbulent clouds of gas and dust that collapse under their own gravitational attraction. As the cloud collapses, a dense, hot core forms and begins gathering dust and gas, creating a protostar. This star-forming ...

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