But he got America to spend billions upon billions of dollars on weapons, on underground shelters that he believed could save most people in a nuclear attack and on Star Wars.

ECONOMIST: Edward Teller

When nuclear fusion uses up a star's fuel, in the central high-pressure stellar core where fusion occurs, the star will collapse fairly violently.

CNN: Why gamma-ray burst shocked scientists

Theory suggests that a certain type of giant, short-lived star can experience catastrophic collapse when the nuclear reactions at its core can no longer support its mass.

BBC: Telescope spies cataclysmic blast