There are stars in miniature form from red dwarfs to the sun-like stars we know of as blue supergiants. It can be hundreds of times the size of the Sun. Not recommended: there is a lot going on in the area. Yet we owe a lot to the blue giants: the carbon that makes up life or the oxygen we breathe every moment. Without the blue giants, we probably wouldn’t exist.
But blue giants are not only very rare, they also exist for a relatively short time: nuclear fusion inside them lasts only a few million years before the blue giants explode as supernovae. Then there’s the fact that these massive stars don’t usually appear alone, but almost always have a companion star. And if it’s a blue giant too, that would be really exciting!
In this episode of AstroGeo, Franzi tells the story of the most massive stars in the universe: what they look like, why their evolution is so exciting and what we owe them – especially when they appear in pairs. Plus spotting tips on where and how to see the blue giants for yourself.
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