Surviving a Star's Explosive Red Giant Phase (VIDEO)
Caption
Artist rendering of a main sequence star ballooning into a red giant as it burns the last of its hydrogen fuel, then collapses into a white dwarf. What remains is a hot, dense core roughly the size of Earth and about half the mass of the Sun. A gas giant similar to Jupiter orbits from a distance, surviving the explosive transformation.
Credit
W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
Usage Restrictions
None.
License
Original content