The first HR diagram vs Gaias modern diagram. Credit: Left, Russell. Right, ESA/Gaia
The early HR diagrams only had data for about 300 stars, but even then it was clear most stars lay along a linear path understood as the primary series. Since the majority of stars are within the primary sequence, it stands to reason that stars invest many of their lives as primary series stars. Small stars shine at cool temperatures, while bigger more massive stars burn hotter. The HR diagrams revealed that some stars such as red giants were cool however large, and others referred to as white overshadows were little and hot, however those were the exceptions. As astronomers gathered more data, they might see how bigger main sequence stars got in a giant stage before ending up being white dwarfs or neutron stars. By and big, the mass of a star determines its life time and fate.
The timeline of human civilization is a mere blip in the lifetime of a star. We have not been around enough time to view a stars life, death, and birth. However we can comprehend outstanding advancement by observing other stars that may be older or more youthful than the Sun. Its similar to the method you might comprehend how people pass away and live by looking at a collection of pictures all taken at the exact same time on a single day. One of the first pictures of excellent evolution was performed in the early 1900s. Initially as an information table by Ejnar Hertzsprung in 1905, however more notoriously done as a diagram by Henry Norris Russell in 1914. Now called Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams, or HR diagrams, they plot the color or spectral class of a star versus its absolute magnitude. Color is a measure of a stars temperature, and absolute magnitude is a gauge of its size.
Billions of years from now, the Sun will diminish its hydrogen fuel and swell to a red giant before ending up being a white dwarf. Now, thanks to the newest data from Gaia, we understand the Suns future in much greater information.
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The early HR diagrams only had information for about 300 stars, however even then it was clear most stars lay along a linear course known as the main series. Since the majority of stars are within the primary series, it stands to reason that stars invest many of their lives as primary series stars. Small stars shine at cool temperature levels, while larger more massive stars burn hotter. As astronomers gathered more information, they could see how bigger main sequence stars entered a huge stage before becoming white dwarfs or neutron stars. The Gaia team also discovered almost 6,000 stars that are near twins of the Sun, having similar mass, structure, age, and temperature level.
Whereas early outstanding studies had hundreds or thousands of stars, Gaia has more than a billion. In the most current data release, the Gaia group developed an HR diagram of more than 4 million stars within 5,000 light-years of Earth. For these stars, we know not just their size and spectral temperature however likewise understand their chemical composition.
The path of comparable stars reveals the Suns fate. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Gaia group also discovered nearly 6,000 stars that are near twins of the Sun, having comparable mass, age, temperature, and composition. By observing these stars, astronomers will get a much better understanding of whether our Sun is common. For example, do these other stars have solar cycles comparable to the Sun? Do some have durations of intense solar flares or are they fairly steady like the Sun?
With so much collected data, Gaia is revealing brand-new information about our own star, how it might act in the near future, and how it will die in the far future. Weve long known the end is nigh for the Sun, however were beginning to learn simply how and when the end will come.
Reference: Creevey, O. L., et al. “Gaia Data Release 3: Astrophysical parameters reasoning system (Apsis) I– methods and content overview.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.05864 (2022 ).
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