BRAINCAKEThe Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
The Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram is a plot of stars' absolute magnitude against their surface temperature (or spectral class).
Features of the axes:
• vertical axis: absolute magnitude from about +15 at the bottom to −10 at the top, so brighter stars are higher
• horizontal axis: temperature from about 50 000 K on the left to 2500 K on the right, so temperature increases from right to left, and the scale is not linear (spectral classes O B A F G K M can be shown along the top)
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More in Astrophysics
- Black-Body Radiation
- Wien's Displacement Law
- Stefan's Law
- Spectral Classes
- Evolution of a Star
- Supernovae, Neutron Stars and Black Holes
- The Schwarzschild Radius
- Type Ia Supernovae as Standard Candles
All 24 lessons in Astrophysics · All AQA A-level Physics topics