Red-giant branch hydrogen fusion continues in stars of roughly solar mass until the helium core increases in mass sufficiently that it becomes degenerate. The core then shrinks, heats up, and develops a strong temperature gradient. The hydrogen shell, fusing via the temperature-sensitive CNO cycle, greatly increases its rate of energy production and the stars is considered to be at the foot of the red-giant branch. For a star the same mass as the sun, this takes approximately 2 billion years from the time that hydrogen was exhausted in the core. Subgiants more than about reach the Schönberg–Chandrasekhar limit relatively quickly before the
Sudarsky's gas giant classification to reflection by the cloud decks. At such temperatures, a gas giant may glow red from thermal radiation but the reflected light generally overwhelms thermal radiation. For stars of visual apparent magnitude under 4.50, such planets are theoretically visible to our instruments. Examples of such planets might include 51 Pegasi b and Upsilon Andromedae b. HAT-P-11b and those other extrasolar gas giants found by the Kepler telescope might be possible class V planets, such as Kepler-7b, HAT-P-7b, or Kepler-13 b. Sudarsky's gas giant classification Sudarsky's classification of gas giants for the purpose of predicting their appearance based on their temperature