Star Types

(by Life Stage)

Main Sequence:

• O-Type Star

  O-Type Example:

  Zeta Puppis(Naos). A rare, extremely massive, and hot blue star.

  It's roughly 1,080 light-years away. It's perfect for studying the evolution of massive stars.

• B-Type Star

  B-Type Example:

  Rigel (Beta Orionis) — A hot, luminous blue supergiant.

  It's visible in the Orion constellation, located about 860 light-years from Earth.

• G-Type Star

  G-type Examples:

  The Sun — The G2V yellow dwarf at the center of our solar System, which burns hydrogen into helium in its core.

  Alpha Centauri A is also a g-type star and visible from Earth.

Giants:

• Red Giant/Supergiant

  Red Supergiant example:

  Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) — One of the largest stars visible to the naked eye.

  It's located about 640 light-years away in the Orion constellation.

• Blue Giant/Supergiant

  Blue Supergiant example:

  Rigel — It's a classified "classic" due to its extreme mass and luminosity.

  It's located in the bottom right corner of the Orion constellation (You can see it from the Northern Hemisphere). It's Orion's left foot/heel.

Evolved Stars & Dwarfs:

• White Dwarf

  White Dwarf example:

  Sirius B (also nicknamed "the Pup")

  It's distance from Earth ~6.5 light-years away.

• Brown Dwarf

  Brown Dwarf example:

  Luhman 16A (part of a binary brown dwarf system).

  Distance from Earth: ~6.5 light-years away.

• Black Dwarf

  Black Dwarf example:

  Star that shall not be named. None exist yet.

  Theoretical dead white dwarfs that are completely cooled down.

• Wolf-Rayet Star

  Wolf-Rayet example:

  WR 124 (Made famous and fantasticallly imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope)

  Distance from Earth: ~550 to 590 light-years away.

• S-Type & C-Type Carbon Star

  S-type example:

  Chi Cygni is a highly pulsating variable giant star.
  Distance: ~550 to 590 light-years away.

  C-Type example:

  La Superba (Y Canum Venaticorum).
  Distance: ~711 light-years away from Earth.

Neutron Stars & Pulsars :

• Neutron Star & Magnetar

  Neutron Star example:

  RX J1856.5−3754 is an isolated, quiet neutron star and part of the "Magnificent Seven" group.
  Distance: ~400 light-years away

  Magnetar example:

  XTE J1810-197 is the first transient radio-emitting magnetar ever discovered.
  Distance: ~8,000 light-years away

• Pulsars/Binary Pulsars

  Binary Pulsar example:

  PSR J2222−0137 is a binary system consisting of a neutron star and a heavily crystallized white dwarf.
  Distance: ~870 light-years away

• Millisecond Pulsars (MSPs)

  Millisecond Pulsar (MSP) example:

  PSR J0437-4715 is a highly stable star that spins nearly 174 times every single second.
  Distance: ~512 light-years away (157 parsecs)

• RRAT (Rotating Radio Transient)

  RRAT example:

  J1819−1458 has been thoroughly studied & is known for emitting brief, sporadic radio bursts instead of a continuous pulse.

  Distance: ~11,700 light-years away (3.6 kiloparsecs).

• Quark star

  Quark stars are purely theoretical, ultra-dense remnants. The neutrons have melted into a "gumbo" of free up, down, and strange quarks.