Destruction of Earth

[Unseelie]

It has to do with mass. You can theoretically throw a large amount of $hit in there and the sun will go supernova. For our Sun, probably abound 10 solar masses.
They may not be instantaneous, but they are definitely quick... some times on the order of minutes and seconds. It least that is what the scientists gather from observing gamma ray bursts in the universe.

...anyhow back to the topic

I'd like to continue diverging by saying it can have to do with volume as well. Remove a sizable portion of the sun (methodology up to you) fast enough, and you cause it to collapse in on itself, also causing an explosion capable of taking out a starsystem, and badly affecting its neighbors.

For that matter, if you just dialed up the energy in the star, you wouldn't need to add mass, as there'd be more pressure.

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