Red supergiant star to individual objects, but it may become useful for analysis of galactic structure and discovery of otherwise obscured red supergiant stars. Surface abundances of red supergiants are dominated by hydrogen even though hydrogen at the core has been completely consumed. In the latest stages of mass loss before a star explodes, surface helium may become enriched to levels comparable with hydrogen. In theoretical extreme mass loss models, sufficient hydrogen may be lost that helium becomes the most abundant element at the surface. When pre-red supergiant stars leave the main sequence, oxygen is more abundant than carbon at the surface, and
Red supergiant star are uncommon compared to M-type, because they are a short-lived transition stage and somewhat unstable. The K-type stars, especially early or hotter K types, are sometimes described as orange supergiants (e.g. Zeta Cephei), or even as yellow (e.g. yellow hypergiant HR 5171A). Red supergiants are cool and large. They have spectral types of K and M, hence temperatures below 4,100 K. They are typically several hundred to over a thousand times the radius of the Sun, although size is not the primary factor in a star being designated as a supergiant. A bright cool giant star can easily be larger