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An illustration of light sources from magnitude 1 to 3.5, in 0.5 increments. In astronomy, magnitude is a measure of the brightness of an object, usually in a defined passband. An imprecise but systematic determination of the magnitude of objects was introduced in ancient times by Hipparchus. Magnitude values do not have a unit.
In 1856, Norman Robert Pogson formalized the system by defining a first magnitude star as a star that is 100 times as bright as a sixth-magnitude star, thereby establishing the logarithmic scale still in use today. This implies that a star of magnitude m is about 2.512 times as bright as a star of magnitude m + 1.
An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it were viewed from a distance of exactly 10 parsecs (32.6 light-years), without extinction (or dimming) of its light due to absorption by interstellar matter and cosmic dust. By hypothetically placing all objects at a standard ...
The apparent magnitude is a measure of the diminishing flux of light as a result of distance according to the inverse-square law. [17] The Pogson logarithmic scale is used to measure both apparent and absolute magnitudes, the latter corresponding to the brightness of a star or other celestial body as seen if it would be located at an ...
To help compare different orders of magnitude, ... Bright sunlight 120 kilolux: ... Frosted incandescent light bulb [5] [6] [12] 10 6:
limiting magnitude with 12.5" reflector is 15; 6 Bright suburban sky 5.1–5.5 18.5–19.25 the zodiacal light is invisible; light pollution makes the sky within 35° of the horizon glow grayish white; clouds anywhere in the sky appear fairly bright; even high clouds (cirrus) appear brighter than the sky background; surroundings are easily visible
For example, 3C 273 has an average apparent magnitude of 12.8 (when observing with a telescope), but an absolute magnitude of −26.7. If this object were 10 parsecs away from Earth it would appear nearly as bright in the sky as the Sun (apparent magnitude −26.744).
This is a consequence of the logarithmic magnitude scale, in which brighter objects have smaller (more negative) magnitudes than dimmer ones. For comparison, the whitish Sun has a B−V index of 0.656 ± 0.005, [2] whereas the bluish Rigel has a B−V of −0.03 (its B magnitude is 0.09 and its V magnitude is 0.12, B−V = −0.03). [3]