The star that could not explode

The star that could not explode

When the fuel is gone, the star’s center can no longer hold up its own weight and collapses inward in less than a second. The outer gas is pushed out weakly, but the inner gas is caught by the extremely heavy center and falls back in. A star like this may fade away without a big explosion.

Why?The heavier the center, the stronger its pull. If the pull inward is stronger than the push outward, even gas that was flying away turns around and is swallowed by the middle.

Learn moreAstronomers watched a star of about 25 Suns brighten briefly in 2009 and then vanish without a big explosion. Many researchers think it became a black hole, but this is still being checked. On the other hand, some very heavy stars explode far more strongly than a normal supernova. This is called a hypernova.

When

About 5 million years old

Star we are watching

End of the 40-Sun star

Size · state

The center collapses in under a second