Concept information
Preferred term
Yellow hypergiant stars
Definition
- An evolved, very massive star of spectral type F or G with a very high luminosity (~10^5 times solar) lying near the empirical upper luminosity boundary in the H-R diagram (Humphreys-Davidson limit). Yellow hypergiants have high mass loss rates (10^-5 - 10^-3 solar masses per year) and are in a short, transitional evolutionary stage. Their evolutionary state is thought to correspond to post-red supergiants rapidly evolving in blueward loops in the H-R diagram. In their post-RSG blueward evolution these stars enter a temperature range (6000-9000 K), called yellow void, with increased dynamical instability. Their link to other advanced evolutionary phases of massive stars such as Luminous Blue Variables and Wolf-Rayet stars is still an open issue in stellar evolution theory. The most famous yellow hypergiant is Rho Cassiopeiae. (en)
Broader concept
- Hypergiant stars (en)
Entry terms
- Rho Cassiopeiae (en)
- Rho cas stars (en)
Editorial note
URI
http://astrothesaurus.org/uat/1828
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