Table of Contents

Stellar Magnitudes

Module 2: The Sun and Stars

Button controls:

• (1) Help button:
  • This button will open a window with help information
• (2) Toggle controls:
  • Increase magnitude: this button will increase magnitude of the star shown
  • Decrease magnitude: this button will decrease magnitude of the star shown

Using the applet:

This applet has been designed to give a visual representation of the magnitude scale. Stars with lower magnitudes are brighter than stars with higher magnitudes. As magnitudes (3) get increasingly larger, the brightness of the star (5) gets significantly dimmer. The greater the difference between their magnitudes, the larger the brightness ratio of the stars. The small light bulbs (4) help to give the impression of brightness, and change in brightness with a change in magnitude.

As shown, the size of the star represents the apparent brightness. The yellow circle (6) depicts a star of first magnitude.