How do we know red supergiants like Antares and Betelgeuse aren’t just main-sequence stars like the Sun who are in the end of their life?

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I’ve always been told that massive stars undergo supernova events, while smaller ones like the sun just grow into red giants, to then just shrink back to a white dwarf. My point is: how do we know red supergiants aren’t just regular “Suns” that are just on their giant phase?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It kind of depends on your definition of “know.” We have models based on our knowledge of math and physics, and decades of observation. Many smart people currently believe the models are correct. But without observation of the actual process (watching individual stars over millions of years of that stars life) we can’t be 100% sure.

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