Using a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
Instructions: You can also copy and paste the web address into your browser:
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/
Background:
Notice that the stars in Figure 5 are not uniformly distributed. Rather, about 90 percent of all stars fall along a band that runs from the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner of the H-R diagram. These "ordinary" stars are called main-sequence stars. As you can see in Figure 5, the hottest main-sequence stars are intrinsically the brightest, and, conversely, the coolest are the dimmest. The absolute magnitude of main-sequence stars is also related to their mass. The hottest (blue) stars are about 50 times more massive than the Sun, whereas the coolest (red) stars are only 1/ 10 as massive. Therefore, on the H-R diagram, the main-sequence stars appear in decreasing order, from hotter, more massive blue stars to cooler, less massive red stars (Lutgens, Tarbuck, &Tasa, 2014).
Assignment: Use Figure 5 to answer the questions. Once all questions have been answered for both part 1 and part 2.
1. Main Sequence stars can be classified according to which characteristics? What are the characteristics of our Sun?
2. Which main sequence stars can be found with a surface temperature of between 3000K-4000K? Which stars have a luminosity about 100 times less than that of the Sun?
3. Briefly describe the solar evolution time-line of a common star like our own from formation through collapse.