What type of star is most likely to end its life in a supernova?

Massive blue stars are the type of stars most likely to end their lives in a supernova. These stars, typically with masses greater than eight times that of the Sun, undergo a series of nuclear fusion processes in their cores, eventually creating a core rich in iron. Once the core forms, it can no longer sustain nuclear fusion to generate the energy necessary to counteract gravitational collapse. As a result, the core collapses under its own weight, leading to a catastrophic explosion—a supernova.

This process is not applicable to red dwarf stars, which are smaller, cooler stars and do not reach the required mass for a supernova. Yellow stars like the Sun, while they also have significant lifetimes, will end their lives as red giants and then shed their outer layers to form planetary nebulae, leaving behind white dwarfs rather than exploding in a supernova. White dwarf stars are remnants of low- to intermediate-mass stars and can only result in a supernova through specific circumstances such as accumulating matter from a companion star, but they do not explode due to their own mass and core processes like massive blue stars do.