Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram, Essay Example

The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram is a tool that is used in astronomy that displays a scatter graph of stars, showing the relationship between their magnitudes and luminosities compared to their spectral types and temperatures (Smith, 1995). In short, one could consider this diagram a representation of the brightness of stars, which is useful because it helps scientists gain a great understanding about their lifespan and life cycle. The color, luminosity, absolute magnitude, and spectral class of stars are utilized to classify them into one of the following groups: super giants, bright giants, giants, sub giants, and white dwarfs. When new stars are discovered, they should be classified and tracked over time to determine whether any new information could be acquired from these observations.

The stars tend to cluster on the part of the diagram known as the main sequence. Stars that are found here are going through a part of their life cycle in which stars are fusing hydrogen molecules in their centers. This is important because stars are comprised of chemical reactions involving this element. Generally, the H-R diagram is used to determine approximately how far a star is from earth, which is related to our ability to relate magnitude to distance. When analyzing an H-R diagram, it is apparent that the stars tend to cluster on the main sequence, which indicates that it is at this point on the H-R diagram in which a star spends most of its life (Porter, 2003).

Ultimately, the H-R diagram is a useful tool that scientists use to classify stars. Since much remains unknown about space, studies utilizing our understanding of these stars may help fill these gaps in understanding.

References

Porter, Roy. (2003). The Cambridge History of Science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Smith, Robert. (1995). Observational Astrophysics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.