Red+Supergiant

A red supergiant is a satge of a star's life which has a mass 100 times bigger than our sun. A red supergiant is an enormous star which gives out a lot of heat & light. Most red supergiants have a mass of 10 solar mass (one solar mass is 3,324,946,000 trillion tonnes). Red supergiants last for about lasting only a few hundred thousand to a million years at most before ending in a supernova. Most red supergiants are about 200-800 times of the sun. It has a greater gravitational pull & luminosity than our sun. The most massive of the red supergiants are thought to evolve to Wolf-Rayet stars, while lower mass red supergiants will likely end their lives as a type II supernova.
 * Red Supergiant**



A star becomes a red supergiant when it uses up it's hydrogen fuel. When it strts using helium to produce light & heat, the star expands 200-800 times of our sun. It becomes emormous, unmiagianbly hot & emits a lot of light. Near the end of their lifetime, the star develops layers of heavier and heavier elements (iron) with the heaviest at the core.Usually the star's life end with a supernova. Sometimes these stars can eveolve into Wolf-Rayet stars or type II supernova. Red supergiants have relatively cool surface temperatures (3500-4500K). The radii of the biggest red supergiants is about 1500 times of the. These ones are really giants. The nearest red supergiant (Betelgeuse) to earth is 600 light years away.
 * What is a Red super giant?**


 * Comparison between a red supergiant & our sun**


 * Examples of red supergiants?

Betelgeuse** Betelgeuse is a variable star located 600 light years away from Earth. It is situated in the constellation Orion where it is the second brightest star. Overall it is the ninth brightest in the whole night sky. Astronomers believe Betelgeuse is a few million years old but has eveloved rapidly due to it's high mass. If Betelgeuse was our sun, then it would strecth out as far as Mars & Jupiter. It will completely destroy Mercury, Venus & Earth maybe Mars. It is likely thatBetelgeuse will end it's life with a supernova. Due to it's szie & age ( 8.5million years) it is predicted it will die in the next thousand years if it has not exploded already. When it does explode it is said that the luminosity of the supernova will outshine the moon.

Antares is one the largest red supergiant which is roughly 600 light years away from Earth. It is located In the Milky Way galaxy & is considered the sixteenth brightest star in the nightime sky. Anatres is roughly 700 times than our sun so if Anatres was our sun, it would strecth out as far as Mars & Jupiter. The inner palnets completely destroyed. The mass of Antares is estimated to be about 17 times than our sun. The best time to view Antares would be on the 31st of May when it is opposite to the sun. Anatares is very old, almost about to end it's life. They predict it will end it's life with a supernova which may be millions of years from now. When it does happen our galaxy will be a lot brighter than it was before.
 * Antares**


 * VY Canis Majoris**

VY Canis Majoris is the largest known red supergiant located in the constellation Canis Major. VY Canis Majoris is roughly 2100 times that of our sun and that is why it is the largest star known. To undestand how big this star is consider this fact- It takes 8 hours for light to go around the circumfrence of VY Canis Majoris whereas it only takes 14.5 seconds for it to go around our sun. Because VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star it is also the most luminous. It is 4500 light years away from Earth. The interesting fact is that VY Canis Majoris is one star altogether. It doesn't have extra components. This means all the light & heat it produces is all done by itself.

**Our sun compared to VY Canis Majoris**
 * Can we survive in any red supergiant?**

No, we cannot survive in any red supergiant in this whole universe. There are many reasons but mainly the reason **is it is too hot.** Other reasons include:-


 * No water
 * No atmosphere
 * No soil to grow food
 * Can't get there because the spaceship would dissolve into nothing because of the heat
 * Huge distances form the earth
 * No oxygen for us to breathe
 * To much Gravity
 * No solid ground


 * What are the astronomers trying to find out?

NASA** is trying to find out more about red supergiants like:-
 * Acurate temperature
 * Size
 * Various types of red supergiants
 * Age
 * How they are born
 * Quicker ways to get there
 * Powerful telescopes so that they can view the stars more clearer

If we obtain these information about red supergiant, then we will get a better understanding of these stars or maybe we will find out some interesting facts which might help us later in the future.


 * Here are some videos which might help you understand more about this topic

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