11/10/2014 Giant star - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Giant star
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A giant star is a star with substantially
larger radius and luminosity than a main-
sequence (or dwarf) star of the same
surface temperature.
[1]
So they lie above
the main sequence (luminosity class V in
the Yerkes spectral classification) on the
HertzsprungRussell diagram and
correspond to luminosity classes II and
III.
[2]
The terms giant and dwarf were
coined for stars of quite different
luminosity despite similar temperature or
spectral type by Ejnar Hertzsprung about
1905.
[3]
Giant stars have radii up to a few hundred
times the sun and luminosities between 10
and a few thousand times that of the Sun.
Stars still more luminous than giants are
referred to as supergiants and hypergiants.
A hot, luminous main-sequence star may
also be referred to as a giant, but any main
sequence star is properly called a dwarf
no matter how large and luminous it is.
[4]
Contents
1 Formation
1.1 Intermediate mass stars
1.2 High mass stars
1.3 Low mass stars
2 Sub-classes
2.1 Subgiants
2.2 Bright giants
2.3 Red giants
2.4 Yellow giants
2.4.1 Planets
2.5 Blue giants
3 References
4 External links
HertzsprungRussell diagram
Spectral type
Brown
dwarfs
White dwarfs
Red
dwarfs
Subdwarfs
Main sequence
("dwarfs")
Subgiants
Giants
Bright giants
Supergiants
Hypergiants
absolute
magni-
tude
(M
V
)