magnatude?!

[steelyglint]

hi can anybody explain simlpy what magnatude is?! im aware of the numbers corrasponding to brightness...or do i have this all wrong? help me!

[MjrTom]

No probs try this for the detailed answer

Magnitude (astronomy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[magic612]

It is a measure of brightness. In a way, it can seem a little backwards at first: Lower numbers are brighter, higher numbers are dimmer. So a 1st mag star is brighter than a 2nd mag star, etc.

But on that same line of thought, negative numbers are even brighter. So Sirius, the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, is around -1, much brighter than 0 or first magnitude stars. If you remember that the Full Moon is about -13 and the Sun is -27, you won't be too confused though!

Also, there is difference of about 2.5 in brightness of each magnitude. So a 1st mag star is 2.5x as bright as a 2 mag star. This is logarithmic, so a 1st magnitude star is 100x brighter than a 6th magnitude star (and 250x brighter than a 7th mag star, and 625x brighter than an 8th mag star, etc.).

Make sense?

[steelyglint]

you know what that does...im actuly gonna write that in me journal...best explaination iv had yet mate!

[benjii]

I'd figured out the basics, but never realised it to that length. Well explained!