This documentary is a good explanation of the birth of Neutron stars, one of the most dense and awesome objects in the Universe. They are formed after a star explodes in a supernova and the stellar core is left behind with a huge amount of material compressed into the core that is the Neutron star that can only be about 10 kilometers across and can have a gravitational pull 10,000,000 times the gravity of the Earth. Anything that falls onto the surface of the Neutron star will hit with such force that it would be annihilated instantly and converted into Neutronium, which is not a good thing if you are an Astronaut in a passing spaceship. That would mess up your whole day. The Larry Niven short story “Neutron Star” dealt with this possibility when a ship passed too close to a Neutron star and its crew was killed. The ship survived though as it had a General Products hull and this is an indestructible hull made by the Puppeteers that obviously had greater technology than the humans. The stories written by Larry Niven are amongst the best of Science Fiction and are must-reads, especially the Ringworld series.
The second book the Ringworld Engineers deals with the Ringworld becoming unstable and the efforts to repair the structure. he also explains the defense mechanism of the Ringworld that involves focusing the energy of a solar flare into a laser beam that could melt away the crust of a planet. This incredible weapon is meant to protect the Ringworld against asteroids. the Ringworld was made out of a material named Scrith that is super strong and impervious to just about any radiation except Neutrinos. a thirty-meter thick layer of Scrith is equivalent to a light-year thick layer of lead and would be perfect for a ship’s hull, as it would provide shielding against solar and cosmic radiation on long voyages. And the fact that it is translucent would not matter, you could build another hull on the inside for privacy. I mean the General Products Hull is totally transparent, but it is not almost frictionless like a hull made of Scrith would be so you could just paint it. That would provide more privacy and some self-expression as well. Anyway, read the books and learn more about the Ringworld, it is better than the one in Halo. The only good thing about Halo is the books. I read “Contact Harvest” and it was an incredible story you should all read that too.