Changes

==The Star==

==The Star==

Pollux is a orange-red giant with a spectral classification of K0 IIIb.  The [[star]] is 8.8 times the diameter of our [[Sun]].  However like all giants, it has a low mass, being only 1.7 times as massive as our own star.<ref>http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000ApJ...528..885A&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=44a287269c18839</ref>  Pollux is 32 times as visually luminous as our Sun, with a total luminosity 46 times as great when accounting for the [[infrared]].  As a cooler class K giant, Pollux has a surface temperature of around 4770 K.<ref>http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/pollux.html</ref>  The star has a [[metallicity]] (abundance of elements heavier then [[hydrogen]] and [[helium]]) between 85 and 155 percent of that of our Sun, based on the abundance of iron measured.<ref>http://www.solstation.com/stars2/pollux.htm</ref>  

Pollux is a orange-red giant with a spectral classification of K0 IIIb.  The [[star]] is 8.8 times the diameter of our [[Sun]].  However like all giants, it has a low mass - being only 1.7 times as massive as our own star.<ref>http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000ApJ...528..885A&db_key=AST&data_type=HTML&format=&high=44a287269c18839</ref>  Pollux is 32 times as visually luminous as our Sun, with a total luminosity 46 times as great when accounting for the [[infrared]].  As a cooler class K giant, Pollux has a surface temperature of around 4770 K.<ref>http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/pollux.html</ref>  The star has a [[metallicity]] (abundance of elements heavier then [[hydrogen]] and [[helium]]) between 85 and 155 percent of that of our Sun, based on the abundance of iron measured.<ref>http://www.solstation.com/stars2/pollux.htm</ref>  

Due to Pollux's high mass estimates, and the fact it has evolved out of the main sequence, the star is likely significantly younger then the age of our own Sun (4.6 billion years).  The star itself has used up all its core hydrogen fuel and has shifted to fusing helium in its core to [[carbon]] and [[oxygen]].  Eventually, after a few hundred million years, the star will lose much of its mass.  This lose of mass will puff out from the star as a planetary nebula, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium, with some heavier elements (such as carbon and oxygen).  Once this occurs, the resultant left over star will be a [[white dwarf]].

Due to Pollux's high mass estimates, and the fact it has evolved out of the main sequence, the star is likely significantly younger then the age of our own Sun (4.6 billion years).  The star itself has used up all its core hydrogen fuel and has shifted to fusing helium in its core to [[carbon]] and [[oxygen]].  Eventually, after a few hundred million years, the star will lose much of its mass.  This lose of mass will puff out from the star as a planetary nebula, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium, with some heavier elements (such as carbon and oxygen).  Once this occurs, the resultant left over star will be a [[white dwarf]].