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11 years ago
My cousin thinks it is classified as a main sequence star but I'm pretty sure it's a yellow dwarf!
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11 years ago
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#2
11 years ago
It's a main sequence star.  Kind of.  A main sequence star of one solar mass (so, the mass of one Sun).  Main sequence actually refers to a *period* in a star's life when it is fusing hydrogen into helium. Once it has consumed all of the hydrogen, a star will evolve out of main sequence and into red giant phase.  At the end of its life it will become a white dwarf and just smolder away -- but that's dead.  Or a black dwarf if it's really unlucky.  Right now in life, it's in main sequence.  But to be very specific... the Sun is a main sequence, yellow G-type star.  It is *not* a white dwarf.

You need to look at a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram to really classify the Sun's type.  If you look at the very simplified second link down there, you'll see that the Sun is a very "average" star.  The Hertzsprung-Russel Diagram shows stars by age, size, luminosity...
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#3
11 years ago
> My cousin thinks it is classified as a main sequence star but I'm pretty sure it's a yellow dwarf!

Both of you are right. The Sun is a main sequence star, meaning that it is in a stable state where in it fusing hydrogen into helium. It's also called a yellow dwarf, because of it's colour and small size.

The latter is only relative: the Sun might be a puny dwarf star when compared to the real biggies in the galaxy. But it is at the same time larger than about 95% of the stars in the Solar neighbourhood Slight Smile
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#4
11 years ago
It's a main sequence star G type yellow and not a dwarf.
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#5
11 years ago
A big yellowy one.
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#6
11 years ago
Both will do. Main sequence is the technical term for stage of evolution while the yellow dwarf part describes color and luminosity class. Dwarfs are the so-called luminosity class for main sequence stars. This means they are least bright in this stage of evolution. The color is important since it gives you and idea of how bright and what type of star it is. For example, say red supergiant. That means a very massive and very luminous star at the end of its lifetime. If I say red hypergiant, then that means an even more massive and even more luminous star at the end of its lifetime. This things are terms used in astronomy for star enthusiasts.

Clear skies!
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#7
11 years ago
It is both. Astronomers call it a yellow dwarf because it looks yellow and is very small compared to other stars. It is also a main sequence star, because it is currently fusing hydrogen into helium.

our sun's spectral class is G2V
G means its a yellow star
V means its on the main sequence stage.
the 2 means its two-tenths of the way between G and K spectral type.
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