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This equation and the usual value of a = 3.5 only applies to main-sequence stars with masses 2M ⊙ < M < 55M ⊙ and does not apply to red giants or white dwarfs. As a star approaches the Eddington luminosity then a = 1. In summary, the relations for stars with different ranges of mass are, to a good approximation, as the following: [2] [4] [5]
Flux decreases with distance according to an inverse-square law, so the apparent magnitude of a star depends on both its absolute brightness and its distance (and any extinction). For example, a star at one distance will have the same apparent magnitude as a star four times as bright at twice that distance.
Early photometric measurements (made, for example, by using a light to project an artificial “star” into a telescope's field of view and adjusting it to match real stars in brightness) demonstrated that first magnitude stars are about 100 times brighter than sixth magnitude stars.
In astronomy, a phase curve describes the brightness of a reflecting body as a function of its phase angle (the arc subtended by the observer and the Sun as measured at the body). The brightness usually refers the object's absolute magnitude, which, in turn, is its apparent magnitude at a distance of one astronomical unit from the Earth and Sun.
Luminosity distance D L is defined in terms of the relationship between the absolute magnitude M and apparent magnitude m of an astronomical object. = which gives: = + where D L is measured in parsecs.
To apply this method, one must measure the apparent magnitude of the star and know the spectral type of the star. The spectral type can be determined by observing the star's spectrum. If the star lies on the main sequence, as determined by its luminosity class, the spectral type of the star provides a good estimate of the star's absolute magnitude.
The bolometric correction scale is set by the absolute magnitude of the Sun and an adopted (arbitrary) absolute bolometric magnitude for the Sun.Hence, while the absolute magnitude of the Sun in different filters is a physical and not arbitrary quantity, the absolute bolometric magnitude of the Sun is arbitrary, and so the zero-point of the bolometric correction scale that follows from it.
This article is a list of notable unsolved problems in astronomy. Problems may be theoretical or experimental. Theoretical problems result from inability of current theories to explain observed phenomena or experimental results. Experimental problems result from inability to test or investigate a proposed theory.