What is the difference between a black hole and a neutron star?

Black holes and neutron stars are both astronomical objects that are formed from the collapse of massive stars, but they have some fundamental differences.

A black hole is an object with such a strong gravitational pull that nothing, not even light, can escape it. The boundary around the black hole from which nothing can escape is called the event horizon. Because no light can escape from the event horizon, black holes are invisible to the naked eye and can only be detected through their gravitational effects on nearby matter.

A neutron star, on the other hand, is a very dense object that is formed when a massive star collapses and its core is compressed to extremely high densities. Neutron stars are incredibly dense, with a mass of around 1.4 times that of the sun compressed into a sphere only 20 kilometers in diameter. Due to their small size and high density, neutron stars have very strong magnetic fields and can emit intense radiation.

So while black holes and neutron stars are both the result of collapsed stars, their differences lie in their size, density, and behavior.