An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A high luminosity star with absolute visual magnitude around -10, about 10⁶ times as luminous as the Sun. Hypergiant stars are evolved → massive stars belonging to the luminosity class Ia+ or Ia0. Their spectra show very broadened emission and absorption lines resulting from the high luminosity and low surface gravity which favor strong → stellar wind. See also → Humphreys-Davidson limit; → yellow hypergiant.

See also: → hyper-; → giant.