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| wiki:astronomy:magnitude [2023/11/14 10:48] – Roy Prouty | wiki:astronomy:magnitude [2025/01/13 16:01] (current) – Roy Prouty | ||
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| + | The radiative energy of a source can be given either in relative terms via some **magnitude scale** or in absolute terms via some measure of [[~: | ||
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| The Greek astronomer Hipparchus is usually credited with the origin of the magnitude scale. He assigned the brightest stars he could see with his eye a magnitude of $1$ and the faintest a magnitude of $6$. However, in terms of the amount of energy received, a sixth magnitude star is not $6\times$ fainter than a first magnitude star, but more like $100\times$ fainter, due to the non-linear response of the human eye to light. \\ \\ | The Greek astronomer Hipparchus is usually credited with the origin of the magnitude scale. He assigned the brightest stars he could see with his eye a magnitude of $1$ and the faintest a magnitude of $6$. However, in terms of the amount of energy received, a sixth magnitude star is not $6\times$ fainter than a first magnitude star, but more like $100\times$ fainter, due to the non-linear response of the human eye to light. \\ \\ | ||