Editing Supergiant (section)

==Supernova progenitors==
{{Main|Supernova}}
Most Type II [[supernova]] progenitors are thought to be red supergiants, while the less common Type Ib/c supernova is produced by a hotter Wolf–Rayet star that has completely lost more of its hydrogen atmosphere.<ref name=groh>{{Cite journal|arxiv=1308.4681|last1=Groh|first1=Jose H.|author2=Georges Meynet|author3=Cyril Georgy|author4=Sylvia Ekstrom|title=Fundamental properties of core-collapse Supernova and GRB progenitors: Predicting the look of massive stars before death|journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics|volume=558|pages=A131|date=2013|doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201321906|bibcode = 2013A&A...558A.131G |s2cid=84177572}}</ref> Almost by definition, supergiants are destined to end their lives violently. Stars large enough to start fusing elements heavier than helium do not seem to have any way to lose enough mass to avoid catastrophic core collapse, although some may collapse, almost without trace, into their own central black holes.

The simple "onion" models showing red supergiants inevitably developing to an iron core and then exploding have been shown, however, to be too simplistic. The progenitor for the unusual Type II [[Supernova 1987A]] was a [[blue supergiant]],<ref name=lyman>{{Cite journal | last1 = Lyman | first1 = J. D. | last2 = Bersier | first2 = D. | last3 = James | first3 = P. A. | doi = 10.1093/mnras/stt2187 | title = Bolometric corrections for optical light curves of core-collapse supernovae | journal = Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume = 437 | issue = 4 | pages = 3848 | year = 2013 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2014MNRAS.437.3848L |arxiv = 1311.1946 | s2cid = 56226661 }}</ref> thought to have already passed through the red supergiant phase of its life; and this is now known to be far from an exceptional situation. Much research is now focused on how blue supergiants can explode as supernovae and when red supergiants can survive to become hotter supergiants again.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Van Dyk | first1 = S. D. | last2 = Li | first2 = W. | last3 = Filippenko | first3 = A. V. | doi = 10.1086/345748 | title = A Search for Core-Collapse Supernova Progenitors in Hubble Space Telescope Images | journal = Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific | volume = 115 | issue = 803 | pages = 1 | year = 2003 |arxiv = astro-ph/0210347 |bibcode = 2003PASP..115....1V | s2cid = 15364753 }}</ref>