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Q:
What are Hyper-Giant stars?
- Megan (age 14)
Dunbarton High School, Pickering, Ontario, Canada
A:
Megan -
According to
this site,
hypergiant stars are "extremely bright and extremely hot, burning their
fuel extremely quickly, so they last only a very short while. At the
end of their lives they explode catastrophicaly, leaving a black hole."
This is the biggest, hottest, brightest category of stars - supergiants
are somewhat smaller. Hypergiant stars can be as much as 100 times as
heavy as our sun, and they generally live only about 2 million years
(approx. 1/8000 of our sun's lifespan).
Because they are so big, bright, and short-lived, hypergiant stars
are also quite rare (compared to other kinds of stars, that is). To
read more about the hypergiant star Rho Cas, click
here.
-Tamara
(published on 10/22/2007)
Follow-up on this answer.
