--- title: "Astronomers Say Star Self-Destructed So Catastrophically That It Left Behind No Trace of Its Existence" description: "The explosion of a star hundreds of times more massive than our Sun left behind no remnant, astronomers report." date: "2026-06-07" modified: "2026-06-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/space/star-explosion-left-no-trace" categories: - "Astrophysics" - "Space" --- # Astronomers Say Star Self-Destructed So Catastrophically That It Left Behind No Trace of Its Existence ![A photograph featuring the location of SN 2023vbw in the outskirts of its dwarf host galaxy. ]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Hiramatsu et al. via arXiv* When a star explodes, it typically leaves behind some sort of remnant: an exposed, ultra-dense core, for example, or even a black hole. But one massive star, hundreds of times heavier than our Sun, self-destructed so catastrophically that it left behind no remnant whatsoever, astronomers report in a [new study]() awaiting peer review and [highlighted by *Phys.org*]() First detected in 2023 in a dwarf galaxy some 1.3 billion light years away, the blast is now believed to be an elusive class of explosion called a pair-instability supernova. Over the course of 190 days, the object, dubbed SN 2023vbw, steadily peaked in brightness, after which it rapidly tapered off. This stands apart from the light curve astronomers see with a more typical Type II supernova, which appears as light quickly spiking and plateauing. To produce such a blast, the now-vanished star would've had to be enormous. The astronomers believe it was a class known as a blue supergiant, which are some of the brightest and hottest stars in the cosmos. Based on the amount of material it ejected upon exploding, the astronomers estimated that the deceased titan was at least 170 — and perhaps as much as 350 times — more massive than the Sun. These stars' deaths are suitably epic. In a typical Type II supernova, a star that's at least eight but up to fifty solar masses runs out of fuel at its core, becomes unable to sustain the nuclear reactions that exert outward pressure, and near-instantly collapse under their own gravity. A huge burst of energy follows, and what's behind will be a dense object like a white dwarf or a black hole. But in stars that are as incredibly massive as blue supergiants, their cores burn so hot that they start blasting out gamma rays. While these gamma rays provide outward pressure, if they're too energetic, they'll start turning into electrons and positrons upon colliding with the star's outer layer, and stop providing pressure. If the star is also low in certain heavy metals, this leads to a partial collapse that snowballs in a sustained series of thermonuclear explosions that rip the star apart so viciously that no remnant survives. As such, some astronomers believe that pair-instability supernovas could cause a theoretical "[upper mass gap]()" in black holes masses, since the stars massive enough to form them are completely obliterated when dying, though this view [is being challenged](). All told, if their findings are borne out, the astronomers have serendipitously stumbled on a clear look at one of the rarest stellar deaths in the universe. **More on astrophysics:** [*Scientists Spot What Appears to Be a Ring-Shaped "Planet Factory" Deep Out in Space*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()