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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
The mass loss from evolved red giants is considered. It seems that red giants on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) are losing between 3 and 6 10-4 MΘ kpc-2 yr-1 in the solar neighborhood. If all the main sequence stars between 1 and 5 MΘ ultimately evolve into white dwarfs with masses of 0.7 MΘ the predicted mass loss rate in the solar neighborhood from these stars is 8 10-4 MΘ kpc-2 yr-1. Although there are still uncertainties, it appears that there is no strong disagreement between theory and observation. However, it could also be that we have not yet identified much of the source of the mass-loss from pre-white dwarf stars.