Pedagogical Objectives - Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Spectral Type

Student will understand the differences between absorption, emission, and continuos spectra.
Student will be able to create a geometry consistent with each of the above spectra.
Student will be able to recite the spectral type order – OBAFGKM.
Student will identify O stars with the hottest stars and M with coldest stars.
Student will identify the sun as a G2 star.
Student will be able to demonstrate that color is related to temperature.

Student will be able to work with the luminosity equation.
Student will be able to demonstrate the influence of radius and temperature on luminosity.
Student will know the mass-luminosity relationship for main sequence stars.
Student will understand that there are different luminosity classes – identifiable by stellar spectra.

Student will understand the HR diagram axes and different ways of expressing those axes.
Student will be able to identify the orientation of increasing values of the axes.
Given a star, the student will be able to approximate what kind of star it is: supergiant, giant, dwarf, red dwarf, or white dwarf.
Student will be aware of observational bias with respect to the nearest stars and brightest stars.
Student will be able to orient the isoradius curves and approximate their values.