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In astronomy, a period-luminosity relation is a relationship linking the luminosity of pulsating variable stars with their pulsation period. The best-known relation is the direct proportionality law holding for Classical Cepheid variables , sometimes called the Leavitt Law .
A classical Cepheid's luminosity is directly related to its period of variation. The longer the pulsation period, the more luminous the star. The period-luminosity relation for classical Cepheids was discovered in 1908 by Henrietta Swan Leavitt in an investigation of thousands of variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds. [23]
The cycle period, e.g. "10s" for ten seconds. Additional parameters are sometimes added: The height of the light above the chart datum for height (usually based on high water). e.g. 15m for 15 metres. The range in which the light is visible, e.g. "10M" for 10 nautical miles. An example of a complete light characteristic is "Gp Oc(3) W 10s 15m 10M".
Luminous flux (or luminous power) F: Perceived power of a light source lumen (lm = cd⋅sr) J: Mach number (or mach) M: Ratio of flow velocity to the local speed of sound unitless: 1: Magnetic flux: Φ: Measure of magnetism, taking account of the strength and the extent of a magnetic field: weber (Wb) L 2 M T −2 I −1: scalar Mass fraction: x
Historically light was measured in the units of luminous intensity , luminance (candelas/m 2) and illuminance (lumen/m 2). After the discovery of ipRGCs in 2002 additional units of light measurement have been researched in order to better estimate the impact of different inputs of the spectrum of light on various photoreceptors .
The more luminous an object, the smaller the numerical value of its absolute magnitude. A difference of 5 magnitudes between the absolute magnitudes of two objects corresponds to a ratio of 100 in their luminosities, and a difference of n magnitudes in absolute magnitude corresponds to a luminosity ratio of 100 n/5.
RR Lyrae variables are much more common than Cepheids, but also much less luminous. The average absolute magnitude of an RR Lyrae star is about +0.75, only 40 or 50 times brighter than the Sun. [8] Their period is shorter, typically less than one day, sometimes ranging down to seven hours.
Luminous efficacy (of radiation) K: lumen per watt: lm/W: M −1 ⋅L −2 ⋅T 3 ⋅J: Ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux: Luminous efficacy (of a source) η [nb 3] lumen per watt: lm/W: M −1 ⋅L −2 ⋅T 3 ⋅J: Ratio of luminous flux to power consumption Luminous efficiency, luminous coefficient V: 1: Luminous efficacy normalized by ...