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The Earth and Beyond

Stars  -  Life Cycle  -  Red Giant.

When a main sequence star has used up its hydrogen
it will expand to form a red giant.

The red giant may be many times bigger than the main sequence star.
It appears red because the surface of the expanded star has cooled.

We would expect the star to contract as it cooled down.
It expands for complicated reasons which you don't need to know for GCSE.
You just need to know that it is bigger and cooler
than the main sequence star from which it came.

Depending on the size of the red giant, it may then become
a white dwarf (small stars) or a supernova (big stars).

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Copyright © 2008 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.