Tim came over this evening for some assistance with an exercise that is part of his BSc.
He had to identify three known stars and estimate their magnitude and colour by eye and then compare that to the known values in the literature. He then has to calculate their actual magnitude.
This was an interesting exercise for me, as I've managed to get this far without having a hard think about magnitudes, and tonight helped straighten out a few points in my mind.
In summary:
Low magnitude number = brighter / High magnitde number = dimmer
Aparent magnitude is the brightness as it appears in the sky compared to other stars
Absolute magnitude is the brightnes if the star was only 10 parsecs away
Absolute magnitude is calculated using a formula I'll try to understand in the morining.
Nice to get out and stargaze with Tim again, even without scopes and under the regular city sky.
