We think that if a star which originally had a mass of at least 10 times the Sun went supernova, it would produce a black hole. Supernova can also happen in stars with masses from 5 - 10 times the Sun, but these either produce neutron stars, or completely self-destruct in what is called a 'Carbon detonation' supernova. The '10 solar mass' limit is rather fuzzy because there are complicating factors that can make this slightly higher of lower. It seems certain that stars more massive than 20 solar masses will produce black holes, but whether ALL stars in the 10 solar mass range can do so is not well known. It depends on just how much mass they are able to shed before they supernova. If the core contains more than 1.4 - 2.5 solar masses ( depending on its state of rotation), it will probably become a black hole.

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