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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Why stars become red giants has been a subject of investigation in many contexts, most recently in the discovery of the progenitor of the Supernova 1987A. Sanduleak 69°202 was found to be a blue supergiant star although it was generally presumed that type II SNe arise from red supergiants. Immediately after SN1987A, it was suggested that the blue spectral nature was due to lower metallicity in the LMC (Z = ZΘ/3 - ZΘ/4) although the existence of many red supergiants in the 30 Doradus region where SN1987A took place and in particular the observation of low-velocity nitrogen-rich gas presumed to be a circumstellar shell indicates that mass loss may also have played a significant role in bringing SK 69°202 from red to blue. We report here work in progress on the evolution of massive stars in the LMC with and without mass loss which can ultimately produce type II SNe.