Astronomy › Section L · Analysing starlight and the stellar census › Topic L.8
The H-R diagram
Plot stars by temperature and luminosity and they do not scatter at random: they gather into a long diagonal band and a few distinct groups. This single graph, the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, sorts stars by size and mass and became the key to understanding how stars live and die.
In this topic
- Looking for patterns
- Hertzsprung and Russell
- Reading the axes
- The main sequence
- A sequence of masses
- Giants and supergiants
- White dwarfs
- Worked example: placing a star
- Worked example: the density of a white dwarf
- Why 90% are on the main sequence
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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