Why does a bight object like the sun have negative magnitude?

AI Thread Summary
A bright object like the sun has a negative magnitude due to the logarithmic scale used in measuring brightness, where lower values indicate greater brightness. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding both absolute and apparent magnitudes, which reflect an object's brightness at a standard distance and its observed brightness, respectively. Participants express curiosity about how to conceptualize objects with higher magnitudes, such as magnitude 19. The conversation also touches on the classification of magnitudes and the distinction between spectral classes. Overall, the thread emphasizes the mathematical and observational aspects of stellar brightness measurement.
DB
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Why does a bight object like the sun have negative magnitude?

TY
 
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thnx, i understand the math now, but how do u think of an object with for example a magnitude of 19? what class of magnitudes would it be in?
 
DB said:
thnx, i understand the math now, but how do u think of an object with for example a magnitude of 19? what class of magnitudes would it be in?
I'm not sure what you mean: the object is detected, its brightness measured, and its magnitude is calculated.
 
DB said:
thnx, i understand the math now, but how do u think of an object with for example a magnitude of 19? what class of magnitudes would it be in?

Do you mean spectral classes?

Also, remember the difference between absolute and apparent magnitude, which describe the object's magnitude from 10 parsecs and from a chosen distance, respectivly.
 

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