Helium star transform into a red giant after losing its hydrogen envelope in the future. Helium star A helium star or helium strong star is a class O or B star (blue), which has extraordinarily strong helium lines and weaker than normal hydrogen lines, indicating strong stellar winds and a mass loss of the outer envelope. "Extreme helium stars" (EHe) entirely lack hydrogen in their spectra. Previously, a "helium star" was a synonym for a B class star, but this usage is considered obsolete. A "helium star" is also a term for a hypothetical star that could occur if two helium white
Planetary nebula exceeding about 30,000 K, there are enough emitted ultraviolet photons to ionize the ejected atmosphere, causing the gas to shine as a planetary nebula. After a star passes through the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase, the short planetary nebula phase of stellar evolution begins as gases blow away from the central star at speeds of a few kilometers per second. The central star is the remnant of its AGB progenitor, an electron-degenerate carbon-oxygen core that has lost most of its hydrogen envelope due to mass loss on the AGB. As the gases expand, the central star undergoes a two-stage evolution,