SUPERGIANT STAR
SUPERGIANT STAR
Supergiants are among the most luminous and massive stars, ranging between 7-10 solar masses and can range in brightness from thirty thousand to hundreds of thousands the output of our sun. They reside in the top region of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram; having temperatures from 3,500k to over 20,000k and having bolometric absolute magnitudes between -5 and-12. Supergiants are massive enough to begin burning helium gently in their core before it becomes degenerate, and without the strong dredge-ups that lower-mass stars experience. They are able to go on successfully igniting heavier elements, usually all the way to iron.
These stars are classified into 2 specific groups; red and blue supergiants. Supergiants have very short lifespans, living from a just few thousand to 30 million years. Supergiants' lives always end by exploding into type II supernovae.
~red supergiants …show more content…
This star has 20 times the mass of the sun, and emits approximately 135,000 times more energy than the sun. Betelgeuse is one of few stars that has ever had their disk imaged, which astronomers beleive to be 1,000 times the radius of the sun. With such immense size, if placed at the centre of our solar system, Betelgeuse would reach the orbit of Saturn. Astronomers beleive this star to be only eight million years old, and expect that it will detenate as a supernova within the next millennium. When this finally does happen, the supernova will appear as bright as the moon in the night
SUPERGIANT STAR
Supergiants are among the most luminous and massive stars, ranging between 7-10 solar masses and can range in brightness from thirty thousand to hundreds of thousands the output of our sun. They reside in the top region of the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram; having temperatures from 3,500k to over 20,000k and having bolometric absolute magnitudes between -5 and-12. Supergiants are massive enough to begin burning helium gently in their core before it becomes degenerate, and without the strong dredge-ups that lower-mass stars experience. They are able to go on successfully igniting heavier elements, usually all the way to iron.
These stars are classified into 2 specific groups; red and blue supergiants. Supergiants have very short lifespans, living from a just few thousand to 30 million years. Supergiants' lives always end by exploding into type II supernovae.
~red supergiants …show more content…
This star has 20 times the mass of the sun, and emits approximately 135,000 times more energy than the sun. Betelgeuse is one of few stars that has ever had their disk imaged, which astronomers beleive to be 1,000 times the radius of the sun. With such immense size, if placed at the centre of our solar system, Betelgeuse would reach the orbit of Saturn. Astronomers beleive this star to be only eight million years old, and expect that it will detenate as a supernova within the next millennium. When this finally does happen, the supernova will appear as bright as the moon in the night