What distance?

Hi.

I'm just curious, anyone know what distance our sun would have to be
from us to appear as a 6th magnitude star?

TIA.

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi.

I'm just curious, anyone know what distance our sun would have to be
from us to appear as a 6th magnitude star?

TIA.


From the basic equation in astronomy textbooks,

m - M = 5 log d - 5 (when there is no absorption by dust)

where m is apparent mag
M is absolute mag
d is distance in parsec
and logs are to base 10

Sun's absolute magnitude is +4.83, so m - M = 6.00 - 4.83 = 1.17

log d = 6.17 / 5 = 1.234, so d = 17.14 pc

1 pc = 3.26 light year so 55.9 ly if you want those units.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove "pants" spamblock to send e-mail)

Mike Dworetsky wrote:
"Richard" wrote in message
...
Hi.

I'm just curious, anyone know what distance our sun would have to be
from us to appear as a 6th magnitude star?

TIA.


From the basic equation in astronomy textbooks,

m - M = 5 log d - 5 (when there is no absorption by dust)

where m is apparent mag
M is absolute mag
d is distance in parsec
and logs are to base 10

Sun's absolute magnitude is +4.83, so m - M = 6.00 - 4.83 = 1.17

log d = 6.17 / 5 = 1.234, so d = 17.14 pc

1 pc = 3.26 light year so 55.9 ly if you want those units.

Brilliant!

Thank you.