Measuring and Classifying Stars

Measuring and Classifying Stars

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is an important tool in the classification of stars and the understanding stellar evolution. The H-R diagram was discovered independently by two astronomers in early 20th century using observations of star luminosity and surface temperature. With this lab exercise, you will use Stellarium to collect stellar information and then form your own H-R diagram and see if you can find how stars are group into different luminosity classes.

For this project piece, use a computer simulation to measure the characteristics of a sample of stars and then organize your data into a Hertzspung-Russel diagram. Please read through the assignment background information and follow the steps listed in the lab assignment instructions. You will be asked to form a hypothesis, state the lab objective, record your measurements and calculations, and answer each of the lab questions.

Submit your paper with a title page and in APA format.