Red-giant branch the star when it reaches the horizontal branch, so the properties of red-clump stars can be used to determine the mass difference before and after the helium flash. Mass lost from red giants also determines the mass and properties of the white dwarfs that form subsequently. Estimates of total mass loss for stars that reach the tip of the red-giant branch are around . Most of this is lost within the final million years before the helium flash. Mass lost by more-massive stars that leave the red-giant branch before the helium flash is more difficult to measure directly. The current
Red giant to the planet when the giant expands out to the orbital distance of the planet. Many of the well known bright stars are red giants, because they are luminous and moderately common. The red giant branch variable star Gamma Crucis is the nearest M class giant star at 88 light years. The K0 red giant branch star Arcturus is 36 light years away. In about 5 to 6 billion years, the Sun will have depleted the hydrogen fuel in its core. It will shrink, with the hydrogen outside the core able to compress enough for hydrogen there to fuse, and