red supergiant

American  

[red soo-per-jahy-uhnt] / ˈrɛd ˈsu pərˌdʒaɪ ənt /

noun

red supergiants plural

1. Astronomy. a supergiant star with relatively low surface temperature and light that appears reddish.

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red supergiant Scientific  

1. An extremely large red giant star with a minimum of 15 solar masses. The best known red supergiant is Betelgeuse, with a luminosity about 10,000 times that of the Sun. When a supergiant collapses into a supernova, it may result in either a neutron star or a black hole.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• red-supergiant
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• red supergiants
  plural

Example Sentences

"For multiple decades, we have been trying to determine exactly what the explosions of red supergiant stars look like," said Northwestern's Charlie Kilpatrick, who led the study.

From Science Daily • Oct. 9, 2025

That's the red supergiant Betelgeuse - one of the largest dying stars in the Milky Way!

From Space Scoop • Aug. 20, 2025

This rare supernova, called 2023ufx, originated from the core collapse of a red supergiant star, exploded on the outskirts of a nearby dwarf galaxy.

From Science Daily • Nov. 25, 2024

“We think it was quite a complicated merger,” Shenar says—one that possibly involved a helium-rich lower mass star spiraling into the puffy stellar atmosphere of an accompanying red supergiant.

From Scientific American • Aug. 17, 2023