Ever wondered what are
Red supergiants? What gives red supergiant red color? Read it here know some
facts about the massive red giant stars.
Stars become red super-giant during their helium burning phase that takes place after the
hydrogen burning phase of stars of about ten solar masses or more. They
have comparatively very cool temperatures of about 3500 to 4500 K.
The red super giant
stars are the largest stars in terms of physical size, and are of K-M spectral
type. While these are known are the largest stars with respect to their
physical size, these are not the most massive stars in the universe. They have
enormous radii and a luminosity class of I.
Most of the red super
giants have radius of 200 to 800 times the radius of our Sun.
Presently, the four
largest known red super giant stars in Milky Way galaxy are:
- Mu Cephei
- KW Sagitarii
- V354 Cephei
- KY Cygni
All of these four giant
stars have a radius nearly 1500 times that of the Sun and are at distance of
approximately 7 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.