* White Dwarf: For stars with a mass less than about 8 times that of our Sun, the core collapses into a dense, hot, and very small object called a white dwarf. White dwarfs are incredibly dense, packing the mass of the Sun into the size of the Earth. They are essentially the remnants of the star's core, slowly cooling and fading over billions of years.
* Neutron Star or Black Hole: For stars with a mass greater than 8 times that of our Sun, the core collapse is much more violent. The immense gravity crushes the core to an even denser state, forming a neutron star. Neutron stars are only a few kilometers across but can have the mass of several Suns. If the initial star is massive enough (over 20 times the mass of the Sun), the collapse can be so powerful that even the neutrons cannot withstand the gravity, and the object collapses completely into a black hole.
