How to Die in Space: A Journey Through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena

by Paul Sutter

within fifteen minutes of the appearance of an iron core in the heart of a massive star, it will be all over, violently. Remember how I briefly mentioned that degeneracy pressure can only go so far? Yes, the quirks of quantum mechanics offer a source of pressure able to stave off complete gravitational catastrophe. But even quantum mechanics has a limit; the pressure supplied by the electrons in the iron core can crack. Eventually too much iron settles into the core, overwhelming the degeneracy pressure that was briefly holding up the star. Then things so haywire, fast. Once the support from electron degeneracy fails, the core simply collapses, so quickly—parts of it reaching a quarter of the speed of light—that it completely detaches itself from the rest of the star. Like the pillars knocked out of a skyscraper, the rest of the star follows blindly along, trying to chase after the core that supported it for so long. There’s nothing stopping it: the only force is gravity, which has finally won out against the energy produced in the core. As the core shrinks and folds in on itself, it reaches truly unimaginable densities, far surpassing even the crushing extremes of a white dwarf. It becomes so intense that any stray electrons find themselves literally inside atomic nuclei, a place where they absolutely hate to be. And once there, they then find themselves crammed inside of protons, their very mortal enemies. When a proton is squeezed together with an electron, two things h...