The local stellar population

We describe an undergraduate experiment that can be used to place the Sun in context with the properties of our nearest stellar neighbours. Using stars selected on the basis of their trigonometric parallaxes and spreadsheet software, the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram and luminosity function are constructed for stars within 16 pc, showing that the Sun is at least 25 times more luminous and 2.5 times more massive than a median field star. The experiment serves as an excellent means of practising transferable skills and introduces the concepts of selection effects and systematic bias in astronomical measurements. The sample of nearby stars is demonstrably incomplete. The missing stars tend to be intrinsically faint, leading to an overestimate of the median stellar luminosity.