What does the hertzsprung-Russell diagram measure?

Answer 1

The largest stars would also be the brightest and that would put them near the top of the Hertzprung Russell diagram.

The Sky Catalogue 2000.0 lists 50,071 stars of brightness down to magnitude 8.0. The brightest star is Rho Cassiopeiae with an absolute magnitude of -9.5, which is about 400,000 times more luminous than the Sun, and its spectrum is G2 like the Sun.

Answer 2

The H-Z diagram measures a stars absolute magnitude (brightness) referred to as luminosity and its spectral class (temperature) . Spectral classes range from class 'O' stars having an approximate surface temperature* (ast) of between 30 to 50 thousand degrees Kelvin. Down to class 'M' stars with an avg. surface temp of 3000°K. The other 5 classes are 'B' 'A' 'F' 'G' and 'K'. Our local day star is an just an ordinary class 'G''star on the main sequence and has am ast of 5,500°K.

Answer 3

The x-axis (horizontal) is the surface temperature of the star, in degrees K, with the hottest ones at the left. The y-axis is the absolute magnitude, which is the magnitude it would appear to have at a standard distance of 10 parsecs, with the brightest ones at the top.

Each star is a dot on the H-R diagram, but most stars lie on a broad region from top left to lower right, which is the Main Sequence. Things like red giants are off the Main Sequence, with some at top right of the diagram.

Answer 4

Everything. The H-R diagram catalogs stars based on their spectral types (colors) and temperatures. The order is a bit strange. It is O B A F G K M, and I used to give my students a memory trick to remember this, "Oh, Be A Fine Guy/Girl, Kiss Me".

Main Sequence type O and B stars are very hot because their great mass caused them to burn hydrogen very fast to push outward against the great force of gravity caused by their high mass that is trying to collapse them. Blue light has the shortest wavelength and most energy, so O, B and A stars are hot and blue/white in color and very massive. Rigel is an example of such a star. F and G stars are less massive and cooler, and our sun is a type G star. They are stable and yellow in color, because their temperatures are in the middle of the spectrum and so the wavelengths of light they give out are in the center of the visible spectrum (ROY G BIV).

Red stars on the Main Sequence of the H-R diagram are small dwarf stars, and burn cool with a red light, the least energetic light in the visible spectrum.

When a star reaches the end of its life, it will swell into a red giant or supergiant and leave the Main Sequence. Betelgeuse and Antares are examples of such stars.

When a star becomes a white dwarf in its last stages, it also leaves the Main Sequence. You should look up the H-R diagram to see what I mean.

The mass and color of the star, based on its position on the Main Sequence, determines how long it will burn steadily and what will become of it after it begins to run out of fuel. Stable, moderate stars like our sun, a type G star, will burn for about 10 billion years, and will then swell to the red giant stage. After this, the core will be left as a white dwarf.

Massive, hot Main Sequence stars like Rigel and Sirius will burn for a shorter period before swelling into red supergiants, and will eventually supernova and form either a neutron star (pulsar) or a black hole, depending on mass.

The H-R diagram tells us where a star is in its lifespan, what color and temperature it is, and so we know what will become of it when it begins to run out of fuel based on this.

Answer 5

It is a statistical diagram on which all the stars are plotted. The horizontal axis is the surface temperature, and the vertical axis is absolute magnitude (brightness on a log-scale). Each star shows as a single dot on the chart. The majority of stars lie in a region running from top left to lower right, which is because mostly the brighter ones are also hotter, and it is called the Main Sequence. Main-sequence stars are the stable normal stars and the Sun is a ittle above halfway up, so very stable. The giants like Betelgeuse are over on the right, and they are the scary ones that might do something (but they are very far away).

Answer 6

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is a scatter graph of stars showing the relationship between the stars' absolute magnitudes or luminosity versus their spectral types or classifications and effective temperatures.

Answer 7

Depending on the type of H-R diagram, any and all stars should fit somewhere on the graph. When plotting an H-R diagram any star in the galaxy could be measured for its brightness and temperature and be plotted with reasonable faith that it would fit accurately, in theory.

Answer 8

Essentially it's 'brightness' on the vertical scale and colour on the horizontal scale. The brightness can be expressed as luminosity, compared with our suns luminosity, or as absolute magnitude. The colour can also be expressed in terms of temperature, the colour shows what the temperature is. The colour can be categorised in to groups or spectral classes.

Answer 9

FOLLOW THE code OBAFGKM remember by :Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me

Answer 10

The idea is to display different positions on the H-R diagram where the star will be found as it evolves.