SUPERGIANT STARS:
Supergiants are the most massive stars. In the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram they occupy the top region of the diagram. In the Yerkes spectral classification supergiants are class Ia (most luminous supergiants) or Ib (less luminous supergiants). They typically have bolometric absolute magnitudes between -5 and -12. The most luminous supergiants are often classified as hypergiants of class 0.
Because of their extreme masses they have short lifespans of only 10 to 50 million years and are only observed in young cosmic structures such as open clusters, the arms of spiral galaxies, and in irregular galaxies. They are less abundant in spiral galaxy bulges, and are not observed in elliptical galaxies, or globular clusters, all of which are believed to be composed of old stars.
Supergiants occur in every spectral class from young blue class O supergiants stars to highly evolved red class M supergiants. Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion is a typical blue-white supergiant, whereas Betelgeuse and Antares are red supergiants.
Blue: Rigel, β Orionis (magnitude +0.12, spectral class B8 Ia,b , 773 light years away).
The Pleiades supercluster has several young blue supergiants, all less than 100 million years old, in it.
Yellow: β Aquarii a.k.a. Sadalsuud (magnitude of +2,90, spectral class G0Ib, 610 light years away).
Red: Betelgeuse (α Orionis) is a semiregular variable star magnitude 0.3 to 1.2, Spectral type M2Iab, 427 light-years away.
The four largest known red supergiants in the Galaxy are Mu Cephei, KW Sagitarii, V354 Cephei, and KY Cygni, which all have radii about 1500 times that of the sun.
DWARF STARS:
White: the exoplanet PSR B1620-26c orbits a binary pair of stars. One, the pulsar, is a neutron star. The second is a white dwarf with a mass of 0.34 solar mass. These stars orbit each other at a distance of 1 AU about once every half year.
As the third object found in the system, the planet's official designation is PSR B1620-26c. The planet has a mass of 2.5 times that of Jupiter, is in an orbit similar to that of Uranus around the Sun, but slightly larger; PSR B1620-26c orbits at a distance of 23 AU (3400 million km). Each orbit of the planet takes about 100 years.
Red: about 78% of main sequence stars are red dwarfs.
Barnard's star (5.9 light years away), Proxima Centauri (4.2 light years away). Gliese 876 (14.5 light years away with 3 extra-solar planets)
Brown: brown dwarfs, which are objects with less than about 8% of the Sun's mass, not heavy enough for nuclear fusion reactions to start in their cores and become proper stars. About 25% of the Pleiades are brown dwarfs, but they collectively contribute less than 2% of the mass of the cluster.
2007-03-02 22:33:33
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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