During core collapse, from what approximate size does the iron core shrink in milliseconds?
Answer
A size comparable to Earth.
The gravitational collapse that follows the failure of fusion in the iron core is immensely rapid and violent. Gravity overcomes all resistive forces, causing the stellar material to rush inward at a significant fraction of the speed of light. This implosion compresses the core dramatically, shrinking its dimension from an initial size comparable to that of the Earth down to an extremely small radius, sometimes estimated to be only about 20 kilometers across. This transformation, moving from an Earth-sized object to a compact neutron star precursor, occurs within a matter of milliseconds.
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