1959•Leaflet of the Astronomical Society of the PacificRequires access
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
Halton Arp
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Abstract
Two of the fundamental quantities which describe a star are luminosity and temperature. A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (H-R diagram) is a graphical representation of a group of stars which uses as coordinates their absolute magnitudes and spectral types. Spectral type is principally a temperature classification. There fore the H-R diagram uses the observable characteristics of relative apparent magnitude and spectral type to show how the temperatures and luminosities of stars are related.