Common name

Tau Ceti

Kapteyn's_star

Sirius

Luyten's star
Procyon

Visual
parallax in
(apparent)
HIP number
arcseconds
magnitude
439
0.2293
8.56
1242
0.1919
11.49
1475
0.2803
8.09
1599
0.1164
4.23
2021
0.1338
2.82
3765
0.1340
5.74
3821
0.1680
3.46
4856
0.1228
9.98
5336
0.1324
5.17
5496
0.1229
9.8
5643
0.2691
12.1
7751
0.1228
5.76
7981
0.1339
5.24
8102
0.2742
3.49
12114
0.1387
5.79
12781
0.1324
10.55
15510
0.1650
4.26
16537
0.3108
3.72
17378
0.1106
3.52
19849
0.1982
4.43
20968
0.1207
11.42
21088
0.1814
10.82
22449
0.1246
3.19
23311
0.1135
6.22
23452
0.1174
8.31
24186
0.2553
8.86
25578
0.1150
12.48
25878
0.1757
7.97
26857
0.1728
11.56
27072
0.1115
3.59
27913
0.1154
4.39
29295
0.1732
8.15
30920
0.2429
11.12
32349
0.3792
-1.44
32984
0.1149
6.58
33226
0.1813
9.89
33499
0.1246
10.81
34603
0.1572
11.65
36208
0.2633
9.84
37279
0.2859
0.4
37766
0.1686
11.19
38956
0.1225
12.02
45343
0.1616
7.64
47103
0.1114
10.91
49908
0.2052
6.6

Proxima Centauri
alpha2 Centauri
alpha Centauri

49986
51317
53020
53767
54035
54211
56528
57544
57548
57802
60559
61317
61874
62452
64924
65859
67155
70890
71253
71681
71683
72509
72511
72659
73182
73184
74995
76074
76901
80018
80346
80459
80824
82809
82817
83945
84140
84405
84478
84709
84720
85295
85523
85605
86162
86214
86287
86961

0.1280
0.1383
0.1775
0.1510
0.3924
0.2069
0.1107
0.1855
0.2996
0.1169
0.1125
0.1195
0.1305
0.1218
0.1173
0.1311
0.1841
0.7723
0.1635
0.7421
0.7421
0.2218
0.2352
0.1493
0.1336
0.1693
0.1595
0.1685
0.1219
0.1180
0.1243
0.1519
0.2345
0.1540
0.1742
0.1378
0.1582
0.1671
0.1676
0.1435
0.1138
0.1295
0.2204
0.2027
0.2209
0.1983
0.1230
0.1618

9.26
9.65
11.64
10.03
7.49
8.82
9.81
10.8
11.12
9.76
11.28
4.24
12.24
11.39
4.74
9.05
8.46
11.01
11.32
1.35
-0.01
12.07
11.72
4.54
8.01
5.72
10.57
9.31
11.83
10.56
10.27
10.13
10.1
11.73
9.02
11.77
9.31
4.33
6.33
5.91
5.47
7.54
9.38
11.39
9.15
10.94
9.62
10.49

Barnard's_star

Altair

Kruger 60

Fomalhaut

86963
86974
86990
87937
88574
88601
89937
91262
91768
91772
93449
93899
94761
96100
97649
99240
99461
99701
99825
101180
103039
103096
104214
104217
105090
106106
106255
108706
108870
109388
110893
111802
112460
113020
113229
113283
113296
113368
113576
114046
114622
116132
117473
120005

0.1618
0.1191
0.1721
0.5490
0.1283
0.1966
0.1241
0.1289
0.2803
0.2845
0.1218
0.1128
0.1703
0.1734
0.1944
0.1637
0.1652
0.1612
0.1133
0.1256
0.1822
0.1420
0.2871
0.2854
0.2534
0.1483
0.1248
0.1116
0.2758
0.1140
0.2495
0.1157
0.1981
0.2127
0.1160
0.1309
0.1453
0.1301
0.1228
0.3039
0.1532
0.1601
0.1675
0.1595

11.39
3.42
10.75
9.54
9.37
4.03
3.55
0.03
8.94
9.7
11.57
10.76
9.12
4.67
0.76
3.55
5.32
7.97
5.73
10.54
11.41
8.55
5.2
6.05
6.69
10.33
11.96
11.99
4.69
10.41
9.59
9.06
10.29
10.16
10.42
6.48
8.68
1.17
7.88
7.35
5.57
10.05
8.98
7.7

Experiment E.1
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

The HR diagram was originally constructed using data from the nearest stars. This is
because it is necessary to know the distances of the stars in order to calculate their
absolute magnitudes. The distances of nearby stars can be found using trigonometric
parallax.

Experiment E.1
The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

The HR diagram was originally constructed using data from the nearest stars. This is
because it is necessary to know the distances of the stars in order to calculate their
absolute magnitudes. The distances of nearby stars can be found using trigonometric
parallax.

The spreadsheet contains data on 137 of the 150 stars closest to us (apart from the
sun.) It gives the Hipparcos catalogue number (from the Hipparcos space mission), the
parallax angle and the apparent magnitude for each star. (A few have been omitted
because the Hipparcos catalogue does not list data needed for this work or they lie far
outside the main sequence and will distort the scales.)

Step 1. Use the parallax angles given to calculate the distance to each star in parsecs.
(Distance in parsecs is the inverse of the parallax angle in arcseconds.)

Step 2. Use the distance and apparent magnitude to calculate the absolute magnitude
for each star. (Use the formula M = m 5 log (d/10), where d is in parsecs.

The HR diagram also uses the temperature or colour of the stars. In practical
astronomy, this is done by observing the star through different filters. In particular, two
filters are used in the visible region. The V filter lets a range of visible light through,
centred around green in the visible spectrum. The B filter passes light in the blue region
of the spectrum. Star catalogues such as the Hipparcos catalogue list B-V values. Bluer,
hotter stars have a lower B-V value and redder, cooler stars have a higher value.

Step 3. Access the catalogue of the Hipparcos mission to find the B-V value for each
star. This chore can be shared among the members of the class.

You can access this catalogue in two ways:

a) Via Cambridge University.

Go to http://archive.ast.cam.ac.uk/hipp/hipparcos.html
Enter the Hipparcos catalogue number from the spreadsheet under
Target name
Select Hipparcos identifier in the Use of name window.
Make sure the B-V box is ticked.
Call up the selected star and find the B-V value near the bottom of the list.

b) Via the European Space Agency

Go to http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=HIPPARCOS&page=hipsearch
Enter the Hipparcos catalogue number in the Hipparcos Identifier window.
Call up the selected star and find the B-V value near the bottom of the list.

Now use the data to produce an HR diagram for nearby stars. Remember that the
vertical scale (absolute magnitude) has lower numbers at the top. i.e. opposite to the
usual arrangement (You can reverse the direction once you have constructed a graph.
You will need values from 5 to 20.) The B-V, horizontal scale should have values from 0
to 2.