A white dwarf can pack a Sun’s mass into an Earth-sized ball
A white dwarf is the exposed core of a dead Sun-like star: about as much mass as the Sun squeezed into a sphere roughly the size of Earth.
Electron pressure — a quantum rule that keeps electrons from sharing the same state — holds the star up against gravity. Past about 1.4 solar masses, that support fails.
These Earth-sized embers can glow for billions of years as they cool. Many are the quiet endpoint of stars like ours, and the Sun itself is headed there.
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