A red giant is a type of star in which the internal supply of hydrogen has been exhausted, leaving the star swollen to a large size with its expanding, cooling mass, and glowing with a reddish light.
Examples and specifics
The yellow dwarf star Sol is expected to become a red giant star in approximately five billion years and expand to a diameter as wide as the orbit of Mars. (TOS novel: Dark Victory)
The Romulan name for the red giant Berengaria, D’caernu’mneani, translates as "great eye of red" in High Rihan. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
The Pantera Nebula contained a class IV variable red giant with a short period that was a natural source of coherent microwave radiation. (TNG - Slings and Arrows eBook: A Sea of Troubles)
The lifecycle stage of a Lazarus star such as Beta Barritus includes a red giant phase, supernova, and rebirth as a new red giant. (STA novel: Gauntlet)
During an exploration mission in the 24th century, one starship crew detected a distress signal from within the corona of the red giant in the 443 Serpens system. (Last Unicorn RPG module: Planetary Adventures mission: "Red Giant")
In 2339, USS Stargazer visited a formerly inhabited system where the natives evacuated after trying unsuccessfully to prevent their star from becoming a red giant. (TLE novel: The Buried Age)
When Benjamin Sisko was an Ensign, he watched from a distance as a red giant star went nova. (DS9 - Day of Honor novel: Armageddon Sky)
In 2370, the Grif Balata was caught in the gravity well of a red giant 18 light years from New Vahar. (Star Trek Adventures RPG module: These are the Voyages: Mission Compendium Vol. 1 mission: "Forests of the Night")
The region nicknamed No Man's Land contained two red giants, a quantum singularity and four asteroid belts, all affected by gravity waves. USS Voyager approached the region in 2376. (VOY - Gateways novel: No Man's Land)
Binary systems
The settlement Diesan was located on a planet in a binary star system where seven planets orbit a blue dwarf and two orbit a red giant. (TNG novel: Here There Be Dragons)
In 2269, Spock fought illusory games against an Irapina on the planet Anomaly. One game was a theoretical manipulation of gravitational fields within the coronas of red giant stars in a binary star system. Spock's goal was to trigger a nova in one of the red giants, while an Irapina adjusted other forces of nature to prevent it. (TOS novel: Planet of Judgment)
In 2381, via a subspace tunnel USS Aventine and USS Enterprise-E visited a binary star system consisting of a red giant and a black hole. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)
New red giants
Leonis A was transitioning from an orange star into a red giant during the 2160s. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: To Brave the Storm)
In the 24th century, Delta Pavonis was a yellow dwarf in the process of becoming a red giant. (Star Trek Adventures RPG module: Beta Quadrant Sourcebook)
In the 2360s, the Kaelon system's star was transitioning from a yellow star into a red giant. (TNG episode: "Half a Life")
Veruna in the Delta Quadrant was artificially aged and began its red giant stage in the 2370s. (VOY novel: The Murdered Sun)
Red giant remnants
The impact of a neutron star with a red giant 5 to 8 million years ago left a spinning cloud of highly ionized particles and residual antimatter in the 23rd century. Random Castle was forced out of warp when it entered the cloud in the 2260s. (TOS novel: The Great Starship Race)
The Nystrom Anomaly was formed from ejected matter when a red giant collapsed into a white dwarf. (TOS novel: The Shocks of Adversity)
Ejected matter left over from the supernova of the red giant Beta Niobe wrought havoc on nearby systems, including Verzhik. (TOS - Mere Anarchy eBook: The Darkness Drops Again)
Unusual uses
Ferengi formed a geodesic fold by firing a verteron beam into the magnetic field of a red giant in the Alpha Quadrant, which created a gateway to the magnetic field of a red giant in the Delta Quadrant. (VOY episode: "Inside Man")
Notable red giants
- 443 Serpens primary [1]
- Aldebaran A [2]
- Alpha Majoris [3][4]
- Alpha Scorpii primary [4]
- Antares primary [5]
- Arbuk red giant [6]
- Azati Prime [7]
- Bane 23118 [8]
- Berengaria (a.k.a. D'caernu'mneani) [9]
- Beta Barritus (Lazarus star) [10]
- Beta Herculani's red giant [11]
- Beta Niobe (prior to 2268) [12]
- Bopak primary [13]
- Corsair's red giant [14]
- Deep Space 3's red giant [15]
- Ennan [2]
- Gamma Xertia [5]
- Ganidra (before it became a supernova) [16]
- Havarrnus's red giant [17]
- IIlan [14]
- Kaelon system's star (after 2367) [18]
- Kappa Rho [19]
- Kavis Alpha's red giant [20]
- L374 star [4]
- Lactra [5]
- Leonis A (2160s) [21]
- Manark [4]
- Marathan system's red giant [22]
- Memory Alpha system's red giant [23]
- Mira Antliae [24]
- No Man's Land's two red giants [25]
- Nyria system's red giant [26]
- Pinnaar primary [27]
- Rosette Nebula's red giant [28]
- Simperia's star [13]
- Stelam Diol primary [29]
- Talos Prime [4][5][13]
- Tau Lacertae [5]
- TNC-5527 [30]
- Vandor system primary [31]
- Veruna [32]
- Wolf 359 [13]
- Xertia [5]
- Xi Herculis [5]
- Zai Cluster's red giants [33]
- Zeta Gruis primary [34]
- Zetar [4]
Appendices
Connections
| Stellar classification | |
|---|---|
| By class and type | class O blue-violet star • class B blue star • class A blue-white star • class F white star (white dwarf) • class G yellow star (yellow dwarf • yellow giant) • class K orange star (orange giant) • class M red star (red dwarf • red giant • red supergiant) • boson star • brown dwarf • green star • N-type star • R-type star • S-type star • D-type star |
| By size or makeup | black hole/black star • carbon star • dwarf star (brown dwarf • red dwarf • white dwarf • yellow dwarf) • giant star (blue giant • red giant • orange giant • yellow giant) • Lazarus star • microstar • neutron star (collapsar • magnetar • pulsar) • protostar • supergiant • hypergiant • variable star • white hole • Wolf-Rayet star |
References
- ↑ Last Unicorn RPG module: Planetary Adventures mission: "Red Giant"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Last Unicorn RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Core Game Book
- ↑ FASA RPG module: The Federation
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 ST reference: Star Trek Maps
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 ST reference: The Worlds of the Federation
- ↑ VOY novel: Incident at Arbuk
- ↑ ENT episode: "Azati Prime"
- ↑ ST - Strange New Worlds 8 short story: "Concurrence"
- ↑ ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing
- ↑ STA novel: Gauntlet
- ↑ TOS novel: Death Count
- ↑ TOS novel: No Time Like the Past
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 ST reference: Star Charts
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 TOS novel: Black Fire
- ↑ ST - The Captain's Table novel: War Dragons
- ↑ TOS novel: Ex Machina
- ↑ TNG - Strange New Worlds VII short story: "Forgotten Light"
- ↑ TNG episode: "Half a Life"
- ↑ TOS - Star Trek II Short Stories short story: "Intelligence Test"
- ↑ TNG episode: "Evolution"
- ↑ ENT - The Romulan War novel: To Brave the Storm
- ↑ TOS - Starfleet Academy novel: Crisis on Vulcan
- ↑ Decipher RPG module: Worlds
- ↑ TNG episode: "Conspiracy"
- ↑ VOY - Gateways novel: No Man's Land
- ↑ VOY episode: "Displaced"
- ↑ Last Unicorn RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Players' Guide
- ↑ TOS novel: Best Destiny
- ↑ FASA RPG module: The Triangle
- ↑ TOS novel: Prime Directive
- ↑ TNG episode: "We'll Always Have Paris"
- ↑ VOY novel: The Murdered Sun
- ↑ VOY episode: "Think Tank"
- ↑ Star Trek Adventures RPG module: Call Back Yesterday
- VOY episode: "Inside Man"
- TOS novel: Planet of Judgment
- TOS novel: The Great Starship Race
- TOS novel: The Shocks of Adversity
- TOS novel: Dark Victory
- TOS - Mere Anarchy eBook: The Darkness Drops Again
- TNG novel: Here There Be Dragons
- TNG - Slings and Arrows eBook: A Sea of Troubles
- DS9 - Day of Honor novel: Armageddon Sky
- VOY novel: The Murdered Sun
- VOY - Gateways novel: No Man's Land
- TLE novel: The Buried Age
- ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals
- Star Trek Adventures RPG module: Beta Quadrant Sourcebook
- Star Trek Adventures RPG module: These are the Voyages: Mission Compendium Vol. 1 mission: "Forests of the Night"
External links
- Red giant article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Red giant article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.