Which diagram shows the relationship between a star's surface temperature and absolute magnitude?

• A. Color-Magnitude Diagram
• B. H-R Diagram
• C. Luminosity-Temperature Graph
• D. Stellar Evolution Chart

Answer: (B)

The relationship between a star’s surface temperature and its intrinsic brightness is best shown by the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This diagram plots luminosity (or absolute magnitude) on the vertical axis and surface temperature (often shown as spectral type) on the horizontal axis. Temperature is typically represented from hot to cool, and luminosity increases upward, revealing patterns like the main sequence where hotter stars are generally more luminous, as well as the giant and white dwarf regions for different evolutionary stages. A color-magnitude diagram uses color as a stand-in for temperature and can resemble this relationship in clusters, but the standard diagram that directly pairs surface temperature with absolute magnitude is the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.