Is a third magnitude star 10 times brighter then a 4th magnitude star?

Answer 1

Absolutely. When speaking of the brightness you see from earth, you are speaking of apparent magnitude. When considering the type of star, it's composition, stage, age, size, distance, etc., a star is also assigned an absolute magnitude, so the ranking of the star if seen from similar distances reveals the truth about a star. 3.26 light years away is the assumed distance in ranking stars. A star many times farther away than a second star may appear much brighter than the second star which is much closer, based partially on the various factors mentioned above. The lower the value for a magnitude, the brighter, or more correctly, the more luminous, a star. Thus, a 3.4 is brighter than a 5.1, for example. Long ago the scale was originally an arbitrary ranking based on certain stars that were considered to be the brightest. Since then, stars even brighter have been identified, thus the need to use values even less than zero. Only a handful of stars fall below zero in apparent magnitude. So then it is not significant where in the sky (in what constellation) a star lies, the magnitude value determines the brightness.

Answer 2

When it comes to objects in the sky, lower-number magnitudes are brighter than

higher-number magnitudes.

(-3) is a lower number than zero, so an object with a magnitude of -3 is brighter

than an object of zero.

The [mean apparent visual] magnitude of the sun is -26.7. For the full moon it's -12.7,

and for the maximumn brightness of Mars it's -2.9 .

Answer 3

Each unit of change of magnitude is a factor of ten. A Magnitude Zero star is 10 times brighter than a 1st Magnitude star, and a 1st magnitude star is 10 times brighter than a 2nd magnitude star.

So a Magnitude Zero star is 1,000 times brighter than a magnitude 3 star.

Answer 4

No. One stellar magnitude corresponds to a brightness ratio of about 2.512** .

A 3rd magnitude star is about 2.512 times as bright as a 4th magnitude star.

** Defined as the 5th root of 100.

Answer 5

The way this is defined, a difference of 5m means the brighter star (in this case, the one with 3.0m) is exactly 100 times brighter.

Answer 6

No. The difference in 1 magnitude is the 5th root of 100 which is about 2.512. So a 3rd magnitude star is 2.512 times as bright as a 4th magnitude star.

Answer 7

No. A magnitude 1 star is 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star. A star that is one magnitude brighter than another on this scale works out to be around 2.5 times brighter.

Answer 8

Of those choices, zero is the brightest, 6 is the dimmest.

Answer 9

Brighter. Smaller numbers mean brighter stars.

Answer 10

2.154 (rounded)

(Actually the 6th root of 100.)