What is the magnitude of a star that's 10 times brighter than a fifth magnitude star?

I still don't get it, I thought it was 2, 1/5=0.2x10=2, I don't know what a magnitude star is supposed to be, but that wasn't an answer I could choose so I chose 2.5.

 

I recall him giving me a stardust too, I'm so confused!

 

It's 2.5 magnitude. Magnitude, for stars, determines its brightness, but inversely; the lower the number, the brighter it is. So a magnitude 2.5 star is brighter than a magnitude 5 star.

For reference, the Sun is magnitude -27, while the (full) moon is -13.

 

That is quite informative, thank you. I guess I got the right answer on accident?

It could've also been a Star Piece now that I think about it, but I really can't remember.

 

You're welcome. Always glad to help; I love astronomy.

 

I picked 50 because that's what the cursor landed on This is a very scientific method, passed down by my ancestors.
*cut back years*
Old man: This is how you choose. Watch carefully, for this is a sacred ritual.
*mashes buttons*
*clicks cursor hella fast*
*throws stuff at pillows, mattress, and startled cat*
*faceplants into keyboard*
'You chose Charmander!'
Old man: Go out and choose, armed with the information of choosing.
#MissingNo

 

I don't know what they are talking about when they say magnitudes. I'd think they are talking about luminosity but there is a apparent magnitude is astronomy (magnitude as viewed by earth). You need to know the filter that goes along with the apparent magnitude unless its the absolute magnitude (star viewed from 10 parsects) and there is no way you can find the absolute magnitude with this little information presented. There is also a bolometric magnitude that takes into account the errors presented by any given filter (this goes with the bolometric correction value). This gives the total bolometric magnitude which is 4.74 mags for the sun. Yes though it is reversed from usual counting.

Luminosity is a whole other beast all together. I'm not going to go into it but counting is also backwards (not inverse). Luminosity counts every star individually starting at 1 as the brightest star in the sky. The luminosity of the sun is 4*10^33 ergs/s (don't get me started on the units.)

From what they are saying, the answer is none of the above but I can't be certain about that (I'm just too lazy to break out my astro text book and do the actual equations). The closet answer off the top of my head would be 2.5.

I love astronomy and am currently studding it. Pretty soon, I'll be researching the universe at large so I know a thing or two about this. Oh and also on a side note, HOW ARE THEY MEASURING RADIO WAVES AT THAT TELESCOPE?! If you know anything about telescopes and light, you'll know that you need a huge mirror to collect radio waves, like miles long. You know like the FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope) there's no way that, that tiny thing on top of the building can collect radio waves.

Edit: Of course I completely botch this description. Magnitude is inverse but not perfect inverse because some old dude said that the brightest star in the sky is 1. Luminosity is actually counted the right way, so the brighter a star is the greater its luminosity. Still have no idea what they are talking about. The only thing you can legally inverse is absolute magnitude and that can have negative numbers.

 

I'd wondered about that too... maybe they've only just started to develop the technology? I mean, we didn't set up FAST the very day we began to investigate radio waves from space, right? They just need some time to get to that point, is all.

 

I can't deny that. Its true that if they are starting with this new tech then the telescope wouldn't be that big, but two things, One, the telescopes in new Mexico are still far larger than the telescope on the roof of the building, and two Pokémon is very advanced at this point (like beyond the 21 century at this point in the story) you're telling me that they have never touched radio astronomy? (Not that I blame them, I hear radio astronomy is one of the worst.) (Oh and no don't tell me interferometry like in new mexico because those telescopes are clearly pointed in opposite directions.)

 

That's all very true (though is Pokémon really beyond-21st-century advanced? It seems more like present-day Earth, in most cases, just technologically divergent in certain ways - usually focused on Pokémon themselves). And yeah, radio-astronomy is pretty boring, but then all careers have boring aspects to them, so... to be honest, if I wasn't called to be a teacher, I'd have chosen to be an astronomer, even if I just ended up working at a radio station.

 

I picked 4 and i got stardust also but a Lunatone appeared when i clicked this