Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The difference between these concepts can be seen by comparing two stars. Betelgeuse (apparent magnitude 0.5, absolute magnitude −5.8) appears slightly dimmer in the sky than Alpha Centauri A (apparent magnitude 0.0, absolute magnitude 4.4) even though it emits thousands of times more light, because Betelgeuse is much farther away.
The scale is reverse logarithmic: the brighter an object is, the lower its magnitude number. A difference of 1.0 in magnitude corresponds to the brightness ratio of , or about 2.512. For example, a magnitude 2.0 star is 2.512 times as bright as a magnitude 3.0 star, 6.31 times as magnitude 4.0, and 100 times magnitude 7.0.
The more luminous an object, the smaller the numerical value of its absolute magnitude. A difference of 5 magnitudes between the absolute magnitudes of two objects corresponds to a ratio of 100 in their luminosities, and a difference of n magnitudes in absolute magnitude corresponds to a luminosity ratio of 100 n/5.
Brightness is an antonym of "dimness" or "dullness". With regard to stars , brightness is quantified as apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude . Two pictograms resembling the Sun with rays are used to represent the settings of luminance in display devices .
The apparent magnitude is the observed visible brightness from Earth which depends on the distance of the object. The absolute magnitude is the apparent magnitude at a distance of 10 pc (3.1 × 10 17 m), therefore the bolometric absolute magnitude is a logarithmic measure of the bolometric luminosity.
Because the magnitude is logarithmic, calculating surface brightness cannot be done by simple division of magnitude by area. Instead, for a source with a total or integrated magnitude m extending over a visual area of A square arcseconds, the surface brightness S is given by S = m + 2.5 ⋅ log 10 A . {\displaystyle S=m+2.5\cdot \log _{10}A.}
The distance modulus = is the difference between the apparent magnitude (ideally, corrected from the effects of interstellar absorption) and the absolute magnitude of an astronomical object. It is related to the luminous distance d {\displaystyle d} in parsecs by: log 10 ( d ) = 1 + μ 5 μ = 5 log 10 ( d ) − 5 {\displaystyle {\begin ...
Factor ()Multiple Value Item 0 0 lux 0 lux Absolute darkness 10 −4: 100 microlux 100 microlux: Starlight overcast moonless night sky [1]: 140 microlux: Venus at brightest [1]: 200 microlux