Massive stars live extremely short lives, no more than 100 million years. They end their lives in a cosmic explosion that sends the debris of the dead star racing off into space at speeds approaching that of light. The resulting blastwave, a supernova remnant, is visible for thousands of years afterwards. Even after this fiery death, massive stars can shine brighter than most stars in the sky, as accretion of gas onto the remnant black hole or neutron star can release a tremendous luminosity in X-rays.
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