# The Ages of Stars

@article{Soderblom2007TheAO,
title={The Ages of Stars},
author={David R. Soderblom},
journal={Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
year={2007},
volume={48},
pages={581-629}
}
• D. Soderblom
• Published 1 December 2007
• Physics
• Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The age of an individual star cannot be measured, only estimated through mostly model-dependent or empirical methods, and no single method works well for a broad range of stellar types or for a full range in age. This review presents a summary of the available techniques for age-dating stars and ensembles of stars, their realms of applicability, and their strengths and weaknesses. My emphasis is on low-mass stars because they are present from all epochs of star formation in the Galaxy and…
509 Citations

## Figures and Tables from this paper

Ages of young stars
• Physics
• 2013
Determining the sequence of events in the formation of stars and planetary systems and their timescales is essential for understanding those processes, yet establishing ages is fundamentally
Benchmark ages for theGaiabenchmark stars
• Physics
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 2018
In the era of large-scale surveys of stars in the MilkyWay, stellar ages are crucial for studying the evolution of the Galaxy.But determining ages of field stars is notoriously difficult; therefore,
Using rotation, magnetic activity and lithium to estimate the ages of low mass stars
The rotation rate, level of magnetic activity and surface lithium abundance are age-dependent quantities in stars of about a solar mass and below. The physical reasons for the evolution of these
A spin-down clock for cool stars from observations of a 2.5-billion-year-old cluster
• Physics, Medicine
Nature
• 2015
Rotation period measurements for 30 cool stars in the 2.5-billion-year-old cluster NGC 6819 reveal a well-defined relationship between rotation period and stellar mass at the cluster age, suggesting that ages with a precision of order 10 per cent can be derived for large numbers of cool Galactic field stars.
Uncovering the birth of the Milky Way through accurate stellar ages with Gaia
Knowledge of the ages of the stars formed over a galaxy’s lifetime is fundamental to an understanding of its formation and evolution. However, stellar ages are difficult to obtain since they cannot
The reliability of age measurements for Young Stellar Objects from Hertzsprung-Russell or color-magnitude diagrams
The possibility to estimate ages and masses of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) from their location in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD) or a color-magnitude diagram provides a very important tool
The Relationship between ν max and Age t from ZAMS to RGB-Tip for Low-mass Stars
• Physics
• 2013
Stellar age is an important quantity in astrophysics, which is useful for many fields both in the universe and galaxies. It cannot be determined by direct measurements, but can only be estimated or
Precise Ages of Field Stars from White Dwarf Companions
• M. Fouesneau, Haijun Tian
• Physics
The Astrophysical Journal
• 2018
Observational tests of stellar and Galactic chemical evolution call for the joint knowledge of a star's physical parameters, detailed element abundances, and precise age. For cool main-sequence (MS)
Interferometric observations of hot stars
Accurate determination of fundamental stellar properties is of vital importance in understanding and testing models of stellar structure and evolution. To date, most stars with independent
On the Reliability of Stellar Ages and Age Spreads Inferred from Pre-Main Sequence Evolutionary Models
• Physics
• 2011
We revisit the problem of low-mass pre-main-sequence stellar evolution and its observational consequences for where stars fall on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD). In contrast to most previous

## References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 151 REFERENCES
Ages for illustrative field stars using gyrochronology: viability, limitations and errors
We here develop an improved way of using a rotating star as a clock, set it using the Sun, and demonstrate that it keeps time well. This technique, called gyrochronology, derives ages for low-mass
Fine structure of the chromospheric activity in Solar-type stars – The H$\alpha$ line
• Physics
• 2005
A calibration of Hα as both a chromospheric diagnostic and an age indicator is presented, complementing the works previously done on this subject (Herbig 1985; Pasquini & Pallavicini 1991). The
Accurate masses and radii of normal stars: modern results and applications
• Physics
• 2009
This article presents and discusses a critical compilation of accurate, fundamental determinations of stellar masses and radii. We have identified 95 detached binary systems containing 190 stars (94
Are pre-main-sequence stars older than we thought?
We fit the colour–magnitude diagrams of stars between the zero-age main-sequence and terminal-age main sequence in young clusters and associations. The ages we derive are a factor of 1.5–2 longer
The age-activity-rotation relationship in solar-type stars
• Physics
• 2004
We present Ca II K line chromospheric fluxes measured from high-resolution spectra in 35 G dwarf stars of 5 open clusters to determine the age-activity-rotation relationship from the young Hyades and
Age Spreads in Star-forming Regions: The Lithium Test in the Orion Nebula Cluster
• Physics
• 2005
We present the initial results of a study of the surface lithium abundance in a sample of low-mass members (M* ~ 0.4-1.0 M☉) of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) that provide an independent clock to
The Adequacy of Stellar Evolution Models for the Interpretation of the Color-Magnitude Diagrams of Resolved Stellar Populations
• Physics
• 2005
▪ Abstract Most of what we know about the stellar population of nearby, resolved galaxies comes from the interpretation of their color-magnitude diagrams, by comparison with stellar evolutionary
The Lithium depletion boundary in NGC 2547 as a test of pre-main-sequence evolutionary models
• Physics
• 2005
Intermediate resolution spectroscopy from the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope is analysed for 63 photometrically selected low-mass (0.08-0.30 M ○. ) candidates of the open cluster
Isochrone ages for field dwarfs: method and application to the age–metallicity relation
• Physics
• 2004
A new method is presented to compute age estimates from theoretical isochrones using temperature, luminosity and metallicity data for individual stars. Based on Bayesian probability theory, this
On the Correlation between the Magnetic Activity Levels, Metallicities, and Radii of Low-Mass Stars
The recent increase in the number of radius measurements of very low mass stars from eclipsing binaries and interferometry of single stars has raised more questions about what could be causing the