supergiant

Everyday

1. (science) A supergiant is one of the biggest and brightest kinds of star, many times larger and heavier than our Sun. tree →
2. (adjective, informal) Supergiant can mean enormous: a supergiant shark in a film. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons supergiants appear in the life cycle of stars: very massive stars swell into red supergiants and later may explode as supernovae, leaving neutron stars or black holes. Famous examples: Betelgeuse (red supergiant in Orion) and Rigel (blue supergiant). Phrases: "red supergiant", "blue supergiant".

Examples

• Betelgeuse is a red supergiant in the constellation Orion. tree →
• A supergiant can be hundreds of times wider than the Sun. tree →
• When a supergiant dies, it can explode as a supernova. tree →
• Rigel is a blue supergiant, very hot and bright. tree →
• Our Sun will never become a supergiant; it is too small. tree →
• If a red supergiant replaced the Sun, it would swallow the inner planets. tree →
• Supergiants live much shorter lives than small stars. tree →

Note

Countable. Supergiants burn fuel very fast, so they live only millions of years, not billions like the Sun. Size order: dwarf stars, giants, supergiants, hypergiants.