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| Paper: |
Death and transfiguration - Mass loss from cool evolved giant stars and evolution to planetary nebulae |
| Volume: |
20, Frontiers of Stellar Evolution: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of McDonald Observatory (1939-1989) |
| Page: |
229 |
| Authors: |
Knapp, Gillian R. |
| Abstract: |
Evolved asymptotic giant branch stars are observed to be losing mass in the form of cool dusty molecular stellar winds at rates from about 10 exp-8 to 10 exp-4 solar mass/yr. This review describes the observational methods used to measure these mass loss rates and uses the results to discuss the total rate of mass return to the interstellar medium from AGB stars, the chemical composition, and the effect on the evolution of the central stars. New results on the evolution of stars between the AGB and planetary nebula phases are described; these suggest that, at least, for the massive stars the evolution may be extremely rapid, in agreement with theoretical models. |
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