This page is the intellectual propery of Richard Powell and was released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. Its original version can be found at: https://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/startype.html
This diagram shows most of the major types of stars. The vast majority of stars are main sequence stars - these are star like the Sun that are burning hydrogen into helium to produce their energy. Most stars spend 90% of their life as main sequence stars. When stars exhaust their hydrogen fuel the outer layers of the star can expand greatly and the star becomes a giant. This only lasts a few million years before the star throws off its outer layers revealing a degenerate core, or in extreme cases a black hole.
This diagram shows typical average properties for the different types of stars. There is also a negative version of this diagram which might be easier to print.
| Type | Surface Temp. | Radius (Sun=1) | Mass (Sun=1) | log
g (cm/s2) | Absolute Magnitude (Visual) | Luminosity (bolometric) (Sun=1) | Habitable Zone (AU) | Lifetime (million y) | Abundance (% of all stars) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O3 | 53 000K | 15 | 120 | 4.17 | -6.0 | 1 400 000 | 1200 | 2 | 0.00001% |
| O5 | 45 000K | 12 | 60 | 4.06 | -5.7 | 790 000 | 890 | 3 | |
| O8 | 35 000K | 8.5 | 23 | 3.94 | -4.9 | 170 000 | 410 | 6 | |
| B0 | 30 000K | 7.4 | 17 | 3.93 | -4.0 | 50 000 | 220 | 9 | 0.1% |
| B3 | 19 000K | 4.8 | 7.6 | 3.96 | -1.6 | 1900 | 44 | 30 | |
| B5 | 15 000K | 3.9 | 5.9 | 4.03 | -1.2 | 830 | 29 | 50 | |
| B8 | 12 000K | 3.0 | 3.8 | 4.06 | -0.2 | 180 | 13 | 150 | |
| A0 | 9 500K | 2.4 | 2.9 | 4.14 | +0.6 | 54 | 7.3 | 300 | 0.7% |
| A5 | 8 200K | 1.7 | 2.0 | 4.28 | +1.9 | 14 | 3.7 | 1 000 | |
| F0 | 7 200K | 1.5 | 1.6 | 4.29 | +2.7 | 6.5 | 2.5 | 1 900 | 2% |
| F5 | 6 400K | 1.3 | 1.3 | 4.32 | +3.5 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 3 200 | |
| G0 | 6 000K | 1.1 | 1.05 | 4.46 | +4.4 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 8 000 | 3.5% |
| G2 | 5 800K | 1.0 | 1.00 | 4.44 | +4.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 10 000 | |
| G5 | 5 700K | 0.92 | 0.92 | 4.47 | +5.1 | 0.79 | 0.89 | 12 000 | |
| K0 | 5 200K | 0.85 | 0.79 | 4.48 | +5.9 | 0.42 | 0.65 | 22 000 | 8% |
| K5 | 4 300K | 0.72 | 0.67 | 4.55 | +7.4 | 0.15 | 0.39 | 45 000 | |
| M0 | 3 800K | 0.60 | 0.51 | 4.59 | +8.8 | 0.08 | 0.28 | 68 000 | 80% |
| M5 | 3 200K | 0.27 | 0.21 | 4.90 | +12.3 | 0.011 | 0.10 | 200 000 | |
| M8 | 2 600K | 0.15 | 0.06 | 4.86 | +16.0 | 0.001 | 0.03 | 700 000 |
| Type | Surface Temp. | Radius (Sun=1) | Mass (Sun=1) | log
g (cm/s2) | Absolute Magnitude (Visual) | Luminosity (bolometric) (Sun=1) | Habitable Zone (AU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B0 | 29 000K | 15 | 20 | 3.39 | -5.1 | 1 100 000 | 1000 |
| B5 | 15 000K | 8 | 7 | 3.48 | -2.2 | 1800 | 42 |
| A0 | 10 000K | 5 | 4 | 3.64 | +0.0 | 110 | 11 |
| F0 | 7 200K | 5 | 2 | 3.34 | +0.5 | 60 | 7.7 |
| G0 | 5 800K | 6 | 1.0 | 2.88 | +1.0 | 34 | 5.8 |
| G5 | 5 100K | 10 | 1.1 | 2.48 | +0.9 | 43 | 6.6 |
| K0 | 4 700K | 15 | 1.1 | 2.13 | +0.7 | 60 | 7.7 |
| K5 | 3 900K | 25 | 1.2 | 1.72 | -0.2 | 220 | 15 |
| M0 | 3 800K | 40 | 1.2 | 1.31 | -0.4 | 330 | 18 |
| M5 | 3 300K | 80 | 1.2 | 0.71 | -0.3 | 930 | 30 |
| Type | Surface Temp. | Radius (Sun=1) | Mass (Sun=1) | log
g (cm/s2) | Absolute Magnitude (Visual) | Luminosity (bolometric) (Sun=1) | Habitable Zone (AU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O5 | 40 000K | 30 | 70 | 3.33 | -6.6 | 11 000 000 | 3300 |
| B0 | 26 000K | 30 | 25 | 2.88 | -6.4 | 2 600 000 | 1600 |
| A0 | 9 700K | 60 | 16 | 2.09 | -6.3 | 35 000 | 190 |
| F0 | 7 700K | 80 | 12 | 1.71 | -6.6 | 32 000 | 180 |
| G0 | 5 500K | 120 | 10 | 1.28 | -6.4 | 30 000 | 170 |
| G5 | 4 800K | 150 | 12 | 1.17 | -6.2 | 29 000 | 170 |
| K0 | 4 400K | 200 | 13 | 0.95 | -6.0 | 29 000 | 170 |
| K5 | 3 800K | 400 | 13 | 0.35 | -5.8 | 38 000 | 190 |
| M0 | 3 600K | 500 | 13 | 0.15 | -5.6 | 41 000 | 200 |
| Type | Surface Temp. | Radius (Sun=1) | Absolute Magnitude (Visual) | Luminosity (bolometric) (Sun=1) | Habitable Zone (AU) | Habitable Zone (km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M8 | 2 600K | 0.11 | +18.5 | 0.00045 | 0.021 | 3 100 000 |
| M9 | 2 500K | 0.10 | +19.3 | 0.00032 | 0.018 | 2 700 000 |
| L0 | 2 400K | 0.098 | +19.7 | 0.00030 | 0.017 | 2 500 000 |
| L2 | 2 100K | 0.095 | +20.4 | 0.00015 | 0.012 | 1 800 000 |
| L5 | 1 650K | 0.089 | +22 | 0.000060 | 0.0078 | 1 200 000 |
| T0 | 1 400K | 0.08 | +23 | 0.000028 | 0.0052 | 780 000 |
| T5 | 1 200K | 0.06 | +24 | 0.000015 | 0.0039 | 580 000 |
| T8 | 750K | 0.06 | +26 | 0.0000026 | 0.0016 | 240 000 |