Question

How are stars plotted on a H-R Diagram?

Answer 1

A Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram plots luminosity versus temperature.

Explanation:

A Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram plots luminosity versus temperature. If you know the size (can be computed from a radius) and the temperature of a star, you can get the luminosity of a star.

Generally speaking, hot and large stars will be found at the top left of the plot (top of the main sequence) and cooler and smaller stars will be found at the bottom right (bottom of the main sequence).

Stars exit the main sequence up and to the right, as a star will cool and grow in size as it ages.