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The solar luminosity (L ☉) is a unit of radiant flux (power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun. One nominal solar luminosity is defined by the International Astronomical Union to be 3.828 × 10 26 W. [2 ...
Since the Sun's luminosity is the standard, comparing these parameters with the Sun's apparent magnitude and distance is the easiest way to remember how to convert between them, although officially, zero point values are defined by the IAU. The magnitude of a star, a unitless measure, is a logarithmic scale of observed visible brightness.
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System.It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with 10% at ultraviolet energies.
The Sun's absolute bolometric magnitude is set arbitrarily, usually at 4.75. [4] [5] ... L ⊙ is the Sun's luminosity (bolometric luminosity) L ...
The Sun is the brightest star as viewed from Earth, at −26.78 mag. The second brightest is Sirius at −1.46 mag. For comparison, the brightest non-stellar objects in the Solar System have maximum brightnesses of: the Moon −12.7 mag [1] Venus −4.92 mag; Jupiter −2.94 mag; Mars −2.94 mag; Mercury −2.48 mag; Saturn −0.55 mag [2]
The Sun is found on the main sequence at luminosity 1 (absolute magnitude 4.8) and B−V color index 0.66 (temperature 5780 K, spectral type G2V). The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (abbreviated as H–R diagram , HR diagram or HRD ) is a scatter plot of stars showing the relationship between the stars' absolute magnitudes or luminosities and ...
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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 quasar's luminosity is, therefore, about 2 trillion (10 12) times that of the Sun, or about 100 times that of the total light of average large galaxies like our Milky Way. (Note that quasars often vary ...