Astronomers also look at magnitude from two different lenses and I want to explore that in the next part of this video.
Another lens that astronomers use in magnitude is the concept of apparent magnitude versus absolute magnitude.
Apparent magnitude is probably what you're most familiar with.
That's the brightness of a star as it appears to us.
With absolute magnitude, it's a little bit different.
Astronomers will look at the brightness of an object if it were at a particular distance.
So, apparent magnitude, as you're looking at this picture is the brightness as it appears to us the observer.
For example, this is the Pleiades star cluster that has a relatively lower magnitude which means it's brighter.
We're going to explore this scale in a little bit, so stick with me.
But, absolute magnitude is when scientists will measure the brightness of a celestial object if it was at a particular distance from earth.
That distance being 10 parsecs.
