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The H-R diagram can be used by scientists to roughly measure how far away a star cluster or galaxy is from Earth. This can be done by comparing the apparent magnitudes of the stars in the cluster to the absolute magnitudes of stars with known distances (or of model stars).
HR diagrams for two open clusters, M67 and NGC 188, showing the main sequence turn-off at different ages. The turnoff point for a star refers to the point on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram where it leaves the main sequence after its main fuel is exhausted – the main sequence turnoff.
In stellar evolution, an isochrone is a curve on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, representing a population of stars of the same age but with different mass. [1] The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram plots a star's luminosity against its temperature, or equivalently, its color. Stars change their positions on the HR diagram throughout their life.
The path which the star follows across the HR diagram is called an evolutionary track. [57] H–R diagram for two open clusters: NGC 188 (blue) is older and shows a lower turn off from the main sequence than M67 (yellow). The dots outside the two sequences are mostly foreground and background stars with no relation to the clusters.
Various methods and tools are involved in stellar age estimation, an attempt to identify within reasonable degrees of confidence what the age of a star is. These methods include stellar evolutionary models , membership in a given star cluster or system , fitting the star with the standard spectral and luminosity classification system , and the ...
The horizontal branch is so named because in low-metallicity star collections like globular clusters, HB stars lie along a roughly horizontal line in a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Because the stars of one globular cluster are all at essentially the same distance from us, their apparent magnitudes all have the same relationship to their ...
After a star has consumed the helium at the core, hydrogen and helium fusion continues in shells around a hot core of carbon and oxygen. The star follows the asymptotic giant branch on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram, paralleling the original red-giant evolution, but with even faster energy generation (which lasts for a shorter time). [18]
In the case of young (age < 1Gyr) and intermediate-age (1 < age < 5 Gyr), factors such as age, mass, chemical compositions may also play vital roles. [16] Based on their ages, star clusters can reveal a lot of information about their host galaxies.