An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A highly unstable, → very massive star lying just below the empirical upper luminosity boundary in the → H-R diagram (→ Humphreys-Davidson limit) with spectral types ranging from late A to M. Cool hypergiants very likely represent a very short-lived evolutionary stage, and are distinguished by their high → mass loss rates. Many of them also show photometric and spectroscopic variability, and some have large → infrared excesses and extensive circumstellar ejecta. The evolutionary state of most of these stars is not known but they are all → post-main-sequence stars (Humphreys, 2008, IAUS 250).

See also: → cool; → hypergiant.