Questions tagged [main-sequence]
Questions about the "adulthood" of stars. The main sequence is a distinctive band of stars that appears in a color-magnitude plot (known as Hertzsprung-Russell diagram). Stars appear in the main sequence when they are burning hydrogen in their core.
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"Main sequence" period and habitability of brown dwarf systems
I was recently looking into brown dwarf systems, and I read that all brown dwarfs eventually cool due to their low mass/absence of fusion material, though how long does that take? Red dwarfs have a ...
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When a star enters a red giant phase, does the pressure in its core increase or decrease?
When a star becomes a red giant, does the pressure in its core increase or decrease?
From one side, the only source of pressure in a star is gravity. A red giant is much larger than an ordinary star, ...
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What was the life cycle of population III stars?
Is the life cycle of population III, II, and I roughly the same, save in timescale? Did III go through the same phases, or equivalents of them, for instance, was their an equivalent "main ...
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Mimimum stellar mass and minimum temperature that triggers hydrogen burning
We can derive the minimum mass of a star in the main sequence using the minimum temperature $T_C$ that triggers hydrogen burning in the core. Then using the stellar structure equations we can derive ...
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Is it possible for a star cluster to be composed of main sequence stars?
From what I hear about globular clusters, they are primarily composed of very hot giant stars, which are not the most conducive for life as we know it.
Main sequence stars like our own, due to their ...
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Does the mass-luminosity relation work for brown dwarfs?
There is a mass-luminosity relationship of the form $L \propto M^a$, where $a = 3.5$, that is is applicable to main-sequence stars. Is there a similar relationship that holds for brown dwarfs?
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Are older main-sequence stars found in or near molecular clouds?
From what I have read as molecular clouds are the birth place of stars, their population as you would assume are young stars or stellar remnants but so far I have not found out if there are main-...
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What does the surface of a star with a radiative envelope look like?
This image from Wikipedia shows that main sequence stars above 1.5 solar masses have a convective core and a radiative envelope. The surface of our sun grainy because of convection cells right below ...
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Strength of core-envelope coupling in stars (again)
I asked this on the physics SE but it received little attention:
Consider a high-mass zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) (e.g., $m_{\rm ZAMS} \gtrsim 30\,$M$_{\odot}$) star.
I understand that the core-...
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Can a star be massive enough to go 'supernova' yet not be massive enough to leave behind a neutron star? Or, perhaps vice versa?
From what I understand, stars that explode as a supernova at the end of their lives become either a black hole or a neutron star, and less massive stars that do not explode become white dwarves, but......
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How can I estimate how long will a main sequence star stay on the main sequence given its temperature?
I have a generic zero-age main sequence star. The only thing I know about it is its temperature. How can I estimate time time it spends on the main sequence (in millions of years)? I've seen equations ...
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Is it possible for a star to return in the main sequence?
Is it possible for a star to return to the main sequence after entered in the post-main sequence phase? I have no clue if there's a mechanism such as acquiring hydrogen from from the environment or ...
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What would happen to the Sun's evolution if it collided with another yellow dwarf?
How would the Sun evolve if it collided with another G-type main sequence star, perhaps a more massive one like Alpha Cen A? Since its mass would then be above the Chandrasekhar limit, could it ...
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Increase in Luminosity of the star
The Luminosity of a star is proportional to the 4 th power of its temperature and square of its radius. Also the mass-luminosity relationship says that the luminosity of star is proportional to ...
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Catalogs for type K stars and their planetary systems?
I am doing data collection on all type K stars, and their planetary system so I may develop an algorithm for a planetary formation simulation with the Unity game engine.
Where could such a catalog of ...
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Is there a relation between mass, radius, and luminosity in deuterium-burning brown dwarfs?
I'm a worldbuilder and my setting has a lot of brown dwarfs.
While I'm trying to keep my setting as science-compliant as possible, I can't seem to find any resources for brown dwarfs like there are ...
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Does the luminosity of a star on its main sequence increase or remain approximately constant?
From my understanding, the luminosity of a main sequence star should increase because, in its core, hydrogen is being burnt into helium which means that the number density of hydrogen decreases and ...
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Is there a galactic main sequence?
Stars can be plotted on an HR diagram, on which a main sequence is apparent, and stellar evolution can be plotted on on such a diagram as a function of mass. Is there an analog for galactic evolution? ...
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The mass of Subdwarf B progenitors in the main sequence
Note: By "progenitor", I mean "the star as it was when it was still main sequence". Please correct me if I've got the terminology wrong.
Most B-type subdwarfs have mass roughly half that of the Sun. ...
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Name for pre-supergiant main sequence stars
The massive main-sequence stars which turn into supergiants--do they typically have special terminology for their classifications as do the less massive ones (which may be, e.g., "yellow dwarf" or "...
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Relation between initial mass and evolutionary phases lifetimes
Consider the following image (Source: An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics):
There seems to be a relation between the initial mass/mass at the beginning of the MS and the time spent during ...
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Relationship between IMF and time spent during an evolutionary phase
I was reading a little about stellar evolution and was wondering whether there was any relationship between the lifetime of an evolutionary phase and the IMF, I searched on google but all I found were ...
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Why does the convective core in an intermediate- to high-mass star shrink?
The image below shows the evolution of the hydrogen mass fraction profile for a 5 solar mass star in the main sequence. I would expect that the size of the convective core stays roughly constant as ...
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Is the turn-off point of the main sequence the same as the terminal-age main sequence?
The turn-off (TO) point is one tipping point on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD) where low-mass stars start to evolve from the main sequence (MS) toward lower temperatures. If I understand it ...
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Does the density in the core of a "higher mass" star stay generally constant while it evolves on the MS?
We know the CNO cycle produces the majority of energy production in a "higher mass star" of approx. over 2 solar masses and the core is convective due to the large temperature gradient. My professor ...
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On a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, why is the main-sequence line squiggly?
When I look at a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, I'm able to see a main-sequence line from the most luminous main-sequence stars at the top left to the dimmest main-sequence stars at the bottom right. ...
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What will be the temperature on Earth when Sun finishes its main sequence?
We know that presently Sun is 4.5 billion years into its main sequence. It has another 5 billion years before it enters the Red Giant phase. We also know that Sun's luminosity increases by 10% every ...
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How to obtain distance modulus and Total extinction from Isochrone fitting to CMD?
This is my first post here.
I am studying the following article: https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.03574.
On Page 5, Sec 3.1, the authors are presenting their results they obtained via Isochrone fitting ...
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How long does it take a star to transition from main sequence to red giant?
I have read that it takes billions of years for stars of approximately the size of the Sun to get through the main sequence, after which it will enter the red giant phase. When that happens, how long ...
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How does a star's rotation affect a star on the main sequence?
I searched and have found that the questions mainly focus on neutron stars, white dwarfs and black holes. This was not what I want.
Basically, the bigger the star's mass is, the more intense its ...
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Does a star fuse helium to beryllium on the main sequence?
When a star has finished fusing all its hydrogen into helium, it will then start fusing helium into beryllium and so on and so forth up until iron.
When the star is fusing to beryllium, will the ...
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Are there simplified M-L, M-R, and lifetime equations for non main sequence stars?
To give some context - I am trying to create a simple program that outputs the stellar properties of a star when given its initial mass and current age.
e.g.
Input
Initial Mass = 2e30kg
Age = 4.6 ...
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Why is the main sequence often called 'zero age' main sequence?
The main sequence stage for a star begins after it stars burning hydrogen into helium. This is often referred to as the zero age main sequence.
This is confusing since stars have already lived ...
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Which would be safer: removing hydrogen or adding hydrogen to our sun?
If we want to extend the lifespan of our habitable zone safely, would it be safer to institute a yearly 'tax' on our suns outer layer of hydrogen, or a yearly 'subsidy' to our suns outer layer of ...
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What characteristics or patterns do galaxies have on color-luminosity chart? [closed]
For the following graph, I have some confusions:
How do galaxies rank by mass? We know that on main-sequence, more luminous stars are also more massive, so I guess it also applies to galaxies.
Do red ...
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Why are main sequence stars more massive than the Sun less dense? e.g. Vega, Spica etc
Why do main sequence stars more massive than the Sun have lower densities? e.g. Vega, Spica etc.
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Why do post main sequence stars enter the red giants branch?
I am an early graduate student in astronomy and have hard time understanding why do post-MS stars move up the RGB.
Here is what I understand about post main sequence evolution of stars. As their ...
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Description of Henyey tracks on wikipedia incorrect?
So, if you search for Henyey tracks on wikipedia (I know, the shame of it!) you will come across this statement:
The Henyey track is characterized by a slow collapse in near hydrostatic ...
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Why does spectral class and U-V colour correlate slightly differently for main sequence, giant and supergiant stars?
In this diagram the $x$-axis is spectral type for stars and the $y$-axis is B-V colour.
Taking Series 1 as the Main Sequence, Series 2 as Giants and Series 3 as Super-giants. Why the spectral class ...
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What is the largest hydrogen-burning star?
I am wondering what is the largest known core hydrogen-burning star? A look at the list of largest known stars on Wikipedia seems to indicate VV Cephei B (at the bottom of the list), but I would like ...
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Is "Main Sequence" a temporal sequence?
Stars plotted by luminosity and surface temperature fit into patterns in a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. A rough diagonal subset of this plot is called the main sequence. Is this in any sense a ...
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Is the conversion from proto-star to main sequence an event or a process?
When a proto-star becomes a main sequence star, is that something that happens in an instant when a certain threshold is met, or is it a process that takes a few thousand/million years?
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Accretion of in-falling material for a young main sequence star
I'm reading material that is seemingly contradictory. Some sources indicate that the evolution of a protostar to a main sequence star is characterised by a stellar wind that precludes the accretion ...
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What's an order-of-magnitude main sequence star look like?
I'm looking for a very rough, order-of-magnitude approach to the main sequence.
What I mean is, I have a spherically-symmetric hydrogen distribution. I'm looking to get a rough approximation for ...
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How can pre-main sequence stars radiate more energy than main-sequence stars?
How can a pre-main sequence star radiate more energy by gravitational contraction than a main-sequence star can by hydrogen fusion?
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Timescale of ignition of a protostar?
What is the timescale of start of nuclear fusion as T Tauri type star transforms into a Main Sequence star?
Wikipedia article on T Tauri type stars mentions:
Their central temperatures are too low ...
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