Red giant

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A Red Giant is a type of star that is i) Red and ii) Giant.

A Red Giant is typically represented by drawing a big red circle (the bigger the better) and putting a little yellow dot next to it, like so:

Since the little dot is a normal star (ie huge fiery furnace thing) like the Sun, this is meant to demonstrate that a Red Giant really is totally, stupendously, amazingly big. Bigger than anything anyone can think of times a very big number. And then add a bit more.

If you placed a typical Red Giant where the Sun is now, two things would happen. Firstly you would be very unpopular because the Earth's temperature would increase to the boiling point of lead (except for Scotland which would still be cold, wet and windy), and secondly astronomers would spend a long time arguing about whether or not the Planet Earth would, in fact, be engulfed and destroyed by the star. Property on Pluto would increase substantially in value thanks to the increase in temperature but the residents would still be upset about it not being classified as a Proper Planet.

You can even get Red Supergiants, which are super Red Giants. Blue Supergiants are like Red Supergiants, only blue. Yellow supergiants are rare, which is a pity because you need one to complete the set and Green Giants just exist in sweetcorn commercials.

One day, the Sun will turn into a Red Giant and vaporise all life on Earth. This is likely to happen in 5 billion years time, but you never know, it could happen suddenly tomorrow. So what you think is a beautiful red sunset could in fact be a rapidly approacing horrible death in the upper atmosphere of a swollen star. Isn't that a lovely thought?

Red giants don't last very long, and eventually blow up, wiping out all possible life within 50 light years or so due to deadly gamma rays. Or they might produce beautiful planetary nebulae (nebulae that have nothing to do with planets) instead. It just depends.

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