Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams

Next: Lives and Deaths of Up: Stars Previous: Stars

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams

Part of the data collected by this various means can be used to plot what is called a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which shows how the luminosity (energy output) of a star varies with its surface temperature.

**Figure 15.1:** Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
$\begin{figure} \begin{center} \leavevmode \epsfysize=6.5 cm \epsfbox{figs/sun-1.eps} \end{center} \end{figure}$

Note that the surface temperature of a star increases to the left, and the luminosity increases upwards.

modtech@theory.uwinnipeg.ca
1999-09-29