Hypergiant Stars

Most recent answer: 10/22/2007

Q:
What are Hyper-Giant stars?
- Megan (age 14)
Dunbarton High School, Pickering, Ontario, Canada
A:
Megan -

According to , 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 .

-Tamara

(published on 10/22/2007)