Hydrae is an example of an AGB (
asymptotic giant branch) star.
There's a second red giant phase, called the
asymptotic giant branch (AGB), and during that stretch of about 20 million years, the Sun will attain its greatest luminosity (5,200 times today's) and its largest radial extent of more than 200 times its present width.
As signaled by the subtitle, this manifestation of the conference focuses on complex atmospheres, binarity, dust, the cosmic matter cycle, external
asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star populations, and perspectives arising from new instrumentation.
It has hitherto been impossible to constrain the timescales and mass-loss properties during and after a thermal pulse parameters that determine the lifetime on the
asymptotic giant branch and the amount of material returned to the interstellar medium.
& Moffett A., 'Phase lags in the optical-infrared light curves of
asymptotic giant branch stars', AJ 131, 612-620 (2006)
Paired talks on theory and observation review the current status of solar abundances, main sequence stars, massive stars close to the main sequence, red giant branch,
asymptotic giant branch stars, binaries, and nucleosynthesis.