Mass Loss from Red Giants: Proceedings of a Conference held at the University of California at Los Angeles, U.S.A., June 20-21, 1984 - v.117

Red giant and supergiant stars have long been favorites of professional 6 and amateur astronomers.

These enormous stars emit up to 10 times more energy than the Sun and, so, are easy to study.

Some of them, specifically the pulsating long-period variables, significantly change their size, brightness, and color within about a year, a time scale of interest to a single human being.

Some aspects of the study of red giant stars are similar to the study of pre-main-sequence stars.

For example, optical astronomy gives us a tantalizing glimpse of star forming regions but to really investi- gate young stars and protostars requires infrared and radio astronomy.

The same is true of post-main-sequence stars that are losing mass.

Optical astronomers can measure the atomic component of winds from red giant stars that are undergoing mass loss at modest rates 6 (M $ 10- M9/yr.).

But to see dust grains and molecules properly, 5 especially in stars with truly large mass loss rates, > 10- M9/yr, one requires IR and radio astronomy.

As this stage of copious mass loss only lasts for >105 years one might be tempted to ask, "who cares?".