Nuclear Pasta

Although the name of this bizarre occurrence, nuclear pasta, sounds dangerously tasty, it is not a very accurate description. What then is nuclear pasta? The strongest thing that has possibly ever existed. The dense core of neutron stars is thought to have generated something, according to researchers. When an enormously dense star becomes so big that it collapses in on itself, a neutron star is created.

Our sun would have been dwarfed by the progenitor star. The neutron star that eventually develops is exceedingly little in comparison. 20 miles or less in diameter. Even though it is little, its mass could be 25 times that of the sun that gave birth to it. The only smaller and denser celestial bodies that we are aware of are black holes.

Numerous neutrons are present inside that neutron star, thus the name. They're crammed crazily close together and exist at about 600,000 degrees Celsius. The layers in the star are produced by all of these neutrons, protons, and electrons that are closely packed. Although the center may consist of a substance known as quark-gluon plasma, the protons and neutrons that make up the crust are what give nuclear pasta its unusual moniker because that is the shape it takes.

Although it is yet hypothetical, if this substance does indeed exist on the surface of neutron stars, its extreme density would make it the strongest substance ever discovered. It is estimated that in order to penetrate it, 10 billion times the force required to crush steel would be required.