The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, or H-R diagram, is a plot of stellar luminosity against surface temperature. Most stars lie on the main sequence, which extends diagonally across the H-R diagram from high temperature and high luminosity to low temperature and low luminosity.. Star Zoology: Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) Diagrams The astronomy department from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosts a great website with various educational resources, one of which is a very informative Interactive H-R Diagram. Let's take a closer look at this guide. 1. Open the Interactive H-R Diagram.
Features of the H-R Diagram Following Hertzsprung and Russell, let us plot the temperature (or spectral class) of a selected group of nearby stars against their luminosity and see what we find (Figure 18.14). Such a plot is frequently called the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, abbreviated H-R diagram.. A Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (abbreviated as H-R diagram, HR diagram or HRD) is a scatter plot of stars showing the relationship between the stars' absolute magnitudes or luminosities and their stellar classifications or effective temperatures. It is also sometimes called a color magnitude diagram.