Iron star

In astronomy, an iron star is a hypothetical type of compact star that could occur in the universe in 10¹⁵⁰⁰ years. The premise behind iron stars states that cold fusion occurring via quantum tunnelling would cause the light nuclei in ordinary matter to fuse into iron-56 nuclei. Fission and alpha-particle emission would then make heavy nuclei decay into iron, converting stellar-mass objects to cold spheres of iron.^[1] The formation of these stars is only a possibility if the proton does not decay.

Though the surface of a neutron star is iron, it is distinct from an iron star.

References

See also

• Future of an expanding universe

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