A TEASPOON CAN WEIGH A BILLION TONS

A teaspoon of neutron-star material could weigh around a billion tons on Earth. Neutron stars form when massive stars collapse after a supernova, crushing matter to extreme densities. Under this pressure, protons and electrons combine to form tightly packed neutrons. A neutron star can contain more mass than the Sun inside a sphere only about the size of a city. Its gravity is so powerful that even light is strongly bent near its surface. Many neutron stars also spin rapidly and emit beams of radiation, appearing as pulsars. This makes them some of the densest and most extreme objects known in the universe.