It is fairly average for an orange supergiant star, well into the later stages of its stellar evolution and as such may be considered a dying star. Enif likely only has a few million years left to go, although it is unknown whether it will explode in a supernova or die off as a rare neon-oxygen white dwarf, due to its mass straddling the dividing line between stars destined to explode or not. Enif has been observed to brighten radically upon a few occasions, giving rise to the theory that it (and possibly other supergiants) erupt in massive flares that dwarf those of our own Sun.
The word Enif is derived from the Arabic word for nose, due to its position as the muzzle of Pegasus.
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Last updated on Thursday July 10, 2008 at 10:48:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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