This is a list of stars arranged by their absolute magnitude – their intrinsic stellar luminosity . This cannot be observed directly, so instead must be calculated from the apparent magnitude (the brightness as seen from Earth), the distance to each star , and a correction for interstellar extinction . The entries in the list below are further corrected to provide the bolometric magnitude , i.e. integrated over all wavelengths; this relies upon measurements in multiple photometric filters and extrapolation of the stellar spectrum based on the stellar spectral type and/or effective temperature .
16-521: Entries give the bolometric luminosity in multiples of the luminosity of the Sun ( L ☉ ) and the bolometric absolute magnitude. As with all magnitude systems in astronomy , the latter scale is logarithmic and inverted i.e. more negative numbers are more luminous. Most stars on this list are not bright enough to be visible to the naked eye from Earth, because of their high distances, high extinction, or because they emit most of their light outside
32-552: A magnetar (type of neutron star ) called SGR 1806−20 , had an extreme burst reach Earth on 27 December 2004. It was the brightest event known to have impacted this planet from an origin outside the Solar System ; if these gamma rays were visible, with an absolute magnitude of approximately −29, it would have been brighter than the Sun (as measured by the Swift spacecraft). The gamma-ray burst GRB 971214 measured in 1998
48-502: A telescope ), but an absolute magnitude of −26.7. If this object were 10 parsecs away from Earth it would appear nearly as bright in the sky as the Sun (apparent magnitude −26.744). This quasar's luminosity is, therefore, about 2 trillion (10) times that of the Sun, or about 100 times that of the total light of average large galaxies like our Milky Way . (Note that quasars often vary somewhat in luminosity.) In terms of gamma rays ,
64-518: A temporary episode of increased luminosity that has lasted at least seven years, in a similar manner to the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae that was witnessed in the 19th century. The first list shows a few of the known stars with an estimated luminosity of 1 million L ☉ or greater, including the stars in open cluster , OB association and H II region . The majority of stars thought to be more than 1 million L ☉ are shown, but
80-574: Is currently limited mostly to objects in our galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, but a few stars in other local group galaxies can now be examined in enough detail to determine their luminosities. Some suspected binaries in this magnitude range are excluded because there is insufficient information about the luminosity of the individual components. Selected fainter stars are also shown for comparison. Despite their extreme luminosity, many of these stars are nevertheless too distant to be observed with
96-1704: Is given a name in the short scale , which is used in English-speaking countries, as well as a name in the long scale , which is used in some of the countries that do not have English as their national language. ( 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one nonillionth; long scale : one quintillionth) ISO: quecto- (q) ( 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one octillionth; long scale : one quadrilliardth) ISO: ronto- (r) ( 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one septillionth; long scale : one quadrillionth) ISO: yocto- (y) ( 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one sextillionth; long scale : one trilliardth) ISO: zepto- (z) ( 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one quintillionth; long scale : one trillionth) ISO: atto- (a) ( 0.000 000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one quadrillionth; long scale : one billiardth) ISO: femto- (f) ( 0.000 000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one trillionth; long scale : one billionth) ISO: pico- (p) ( 0.000 000 001 ; 1000 ; short scale : one billionth; long scale : one milliardth) ISO: nano- (n) ( 0.000 001 ; 1000 ; long and short scales : one millionth) ISO: micro- (μ) (0.001; 1000 ; one thousandth ) ISO: milli- (m) (0.01; one hundredth ) ISO: centi- (c) (0.1; one tenth) ISO: deci- (d) (1; one ) (10; ten ) ISO: deca- (da) (100; hundred ) ISO: hecto- (h) ( 1 000 ; thousand ) ISO: kilo- (k) ( 10 000 ; ten thousand or
112-492: Is the unit distance (the value of the astronomical unit in metres ) and k is a constant (whose value is very close to one) that reflects the fact that the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun is not exactly one astronomical unit . 1000000000000 (number) This list contains selected positive numbers in increasing order, including counts of things, dimensionless quantities and probabilities . Each number
128-487: Is the eleven-year solar cycle (sunspot cycle) that causes a quasi-periodic variation of about ±0.1%. Other variations over the last 200–300 years are thought to be much smaller than this. Solar luminosity is related to solar irradiance (the solar constant ). Solar irradiance is responsible for the orbital forcing that causes the Milankovitch cycles , which determine Earthly glacial cycles. The mean irradiance at
144-564: The visible range . For a list of the brightest stars seen from Earth, see the list of brightest stars . There are three stars with over 1 million L ☉ and visible to the naked eye: WR 22 , WR 24 and Eta Carinae . All of these stars are located in the Carina nebula . Accurate measurement of stellar luminosities is difficult, even when the apparent magnitude is measured accurately, for four reasons: Because of all these problems, other references may give very different values for
160-489: The form of photons ) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars , galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun . One nominal solar luminosity is defined by the International Astronomical Union to be 3.828 × 10 W . The Sun is a weakly variable star , and its actual luminosity therefore fluctuates . The major fluctuation
176-447: The list is incomplete. The second list gives some notable stars for the purpose of comparison. A few notable stars of luminosity less than 1 million L ☉ are kept here for the purpose of comparison. Note that even the most luminous stars are much less luminous than the more luminous persistent extragalactic objects, such as quasars . For example, 3C 273 has an average apparent magnitude of 12.8 (when observing with
SECTION 10
#1732787948572192-502: The most luminous stars (different ordering or different stars altogether). Data on different stars can be of somewhat different reliability, depending on the attention one particular star has received as well as largely differing physical difficulties in analysis (see the Pistol Star for an example). The last stars in the list are familiar nearby stars put there for comparison, and not among the most luminous known. It may also interest
208-419: The naked eye. Stars that are at least sometimes visible to the unaided eye have their apparent magnitude (6.5 or brighter) highlighted in blue. Thanks to gravitational lensing, stars that are strongly magnified can be seen at much larger distances. The first star in the list, Godzilla — an LBV in the distant Sunburst galaxy — is probably the brightest star ever observed, although it is believed to be undergoing
224-443: The reader to know that the Sun is more luminous than approximately 95% of all known stars in the local neighbourhood (out to, say, a few hundred light years), due to enormous numbers of somewhat less massive stars that are cooler and often much less luminous. For perspective, the overall range of stellar luminosities runs from dwarfs less than 1/10,000th as luminous as the Sun to supergiants over 1,000,000 times more luminous. This list
240-628: The top of the Earth's atmosphere is sometimes known as the solar constant , I ☉ . Irradiance is defined as power per unit area, so the solar luminosity (total power emitted by the Sun) is the irradiance received at the Earth (solar constant) multiplied by the area of the sphere whose radius is the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun: L ⊙ = 4 π k I ⊙ A 2 {\displaystyle L_{\odot }=4\pi kI_{\odot }A^{2}} where A
256-486: Was at the time thought to be the most energetic event in the observable universe , with the equivalent energy of several hundred supernovae . Later studies pointed out that the energy was probably the energy of one supernova which had been "beamed" towards Earth by the geometry of a relativistic jet. Luminosity of the Sun The solar luminosity ( L ☉ ) is a unit of radiant flux ( power emitted in
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