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Stars with a mass greater than 8 times that of the Sun die spectacularly. Once the matter in their cores is fused in to iron, fusion shuts down and the star then explodes in a supernova explosion.
The Crab Nebula, shown, is the remnant of a supernova recorded in 1054 by Chinese astronomers.
@evilscientistca I remember learning about this in the astrophysics course I took at university. If the star is massive enough, then as it cools and the heat of the gas is no longer pushing it apart, it contracts to a point where the pressure at the core is enough to force the electrons in the atoms *into* the nucleus where they fuse with the protons to form neutrons. Then the outer layers blow off in a big explosion. This is how a neutron star is formed.