What is the baseline for determining the magnitude scale of celestial objects? Why do brighter objects have negative numbers? Dean TreadwayKnoxville, Tennessee The first observer to catalog differences in star brightnesses was Greek astronomer Hipparchus. He created a catalog around 135 B.C.E. of roughly 850 stars divided into six ranges. He called the brightest 1stContinue reading “Why do brighter astronomical objects have negative magnitudes?”
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