Is there a relationship between the mass of a main sequence star and its luminosity?
A) No. Large masses can have low luminosities and vice versa.
B) Yes, mass and luminosity are related linearly: A star twice as massive has twice the luminosity.
C) Yes, the mass and luminosity are related, but not linearly: A star twice as massive has more than twice the luminosity.
D) Yes, but surprisingly there is an anti-correlation: Larger masses have smaller luminosities.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

There is a relationship between the mass of a main sequence star and its luminosity, but it is not a simple linear one. The mass-luminosity relationship follows a power law, meaning that stars with larger masses have more than twice the luminosity of stars with half their mass. This relationship was first quantified by the astronomer Ejnar Hertzsprung and is known as the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

Is There a Relationship Between the Mass of a Main