supergiant


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A star of at least eight solar masses that has evolved off the main sequence of the H-R Diagram and depleted a significant portion of its hydrogen fuel supply. Helium becomes the new fuel for powering the star, and it is fused together at much higher temperatures in the core while hydrogen continues to fuse in a surrounding shell. This shell expands the outer atmosphere of the star to 10 to 1000 solar radii, thus making the star larger.