Quick & curious · Space

A sugar cube as heavy as a mountain.

Artist's impression of a neutron star with magnetic field lines
Illustration: Casey Reed - Penn State University · Public domain · Original

1 bntper sugar cube

The story behind it

A sugar cube of neutron star weighs as much as a mountain.

About a billion tons. A neutron star squeezes roughly the mass of the Sun into a ball the size of a city.

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. NASA Imagine the Universe: Neutron Stars (accessed 2026-10-05)

Image credits

  • “Neutron star illustrated.jpg”, Casey Reed - Penn State University, Public domain