extreme horizontal branch star (EHB) setâre-ye šâxe-ye ofoqi-ye ostom Fr.: étoile de la branche horizontale extrême The hottest variety of stars on the → horizontal branch with temperatures ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 K. EHB stars are distinguished from normal horizontal branch stars by having extremely thin, inert hydrogen envelopes surrounding the helium-burning core. They are hot, dense stars with masses in a narrow range near 0.5 Msun. These stars have undergone such extreme mass loss during their first ascent up the giant branch that only a very thin hydrogen envelope survives. Stars identified as EHB stars are found in low metallicity globular clusters as an extension of the normal HB. → extreme; → horizontal; → branch; → star. |