degenerate helium core, and expand dramatically into the red giant state. Once the core reaches a high enough temperature, it ignites violently in the helium flash, which begins helium core burning on the horizontal branch. Once even the core helium is exhausted, a degenerate carbon-oxygen core remains. Fusion continues in both hydrogen and helium shells at different depths in the star, and the star increases luminosity on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). La Superba is currently an AGB star. In the AGB stars, fusion products are moved outwards from the core by strong deep convection known as a dredge-up, thus creating a carbon abundance in the outer atmosphere where carbon monoxide and other compounds are formed. These molecules tend to absorb radiation at shorter wavelengths, resulting in a spectrum with even less blue and violet compared to ordinary red giants, giving the star its distinguished red color. La Superba is most likely in the final stages of fusing its remaining secondary fuel (helium) into carbon and shedding its mass at the rate of about a million times that of the Sun's solar wind. It is also surrounded by a 2.5 light year-wide shell of previously ejected material, implying that at one point it must have been losing mass as much as 50 times faster than it is now. La Superba thus appears almost ready to eject its outer layers to form a planetary nebula, leaving behind its core in the form of a white dwarf. Notes References External links https://web.archive.org/web/20051025230148/http://www.nckas.org/carbonstars/ http://www.backyard-astro.com/deepsky/top100/11.html http://jumk.de/astronomie/big-stars/la-superba.shtml Semiregular variable stars Canes Venatici Carbon stars Stars with proper names Canum Venaticorum, Y 110914 4846 062223 Durchmusterung objects Asymptotic-giant-branch stars