Light Years and Parsecs

Measures of interstellar distances

 The Light Year
• The distance that light travels in 1 year is a
light year

1 light year = 9.46 x 1015 metres.

Radius of Earth The parsec This angle is
orbit (1 a.u.)
equal to 1 second
of arc (1/36000)

The distance x is one parsec

i.e. the parsec is the distance from the sun at which the radius of the
Earth orbit subtends an angle of one second of arc.
The name is an abbreviation of the term “parallax second”

1 parsec = 3.09 x 1016m or 3.26 light years

Absolute Magnitude
The apparent brightness of stars conveys
no information about their distance from
us. Some of the brightest stars here are
more distant than the faintest
 Apparent and Absolute Magnitude
• The apparent magnitude gives us
information about how bright a star
appears to be from Earth.
• It gives us no information about the how
bright the star actually is!
• We need another idea to compare the
actual brightness of the stars.
• This is what the idea of absolute
magnitude does.
 Absolute Magnitude
• If the stars were equally distant then their
apparent magnitude would give us a true
comparison of their brightness.

• Absolute magnitude gives us the value of

a star’s brightness at a standard distance
of 10 parsecs
 Absolute Magnitude Formula
• We know that the magnitude scale is a
logarithmic scale

1 2 3 4 5 6

x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512 x 2.512

brighter brighter brighter brighter brighter
than 2 than 3 than 4 than 5 than 6
Magnitude difference Ratio of Intensity of light
between stars measured at earth i1/i2 From This table we can see it
(m2-m1) can be determined that the
relationship between the two
quantities is

1 2.512
i1 ( m2  m1 ) / 5
2 (2.512)2 = 6.31
 100
3 (2.512)3 = 15.85 i2
4 (2.512)4 = 39 .82
Taking logs of both sides
5 (2.512)5 = 100

10 (2.512)10 = 104

15 (2.512)15 = 106 i1
m2  m1  2.5 log( )
20 (2.512)20 = 108 i2
 The Absolute Magnitude Formula
• Now where M is the
apparent magnitude
of the star brought to I
a distance of 10 m  M  2.5 log( )
parsecs and I the i
intensity of light
received from the star
at that distance and m
and i are the original
values
 From the inverse square law:

P P Where D is the standard

i , I distance of 10 parsecs
4D 2
4 10 2
2
I d 
 
i  10 
I
Combining this equation with m  M  2.5 log( )
i
2
d 
m  M  2.5 log  
 10 
Finally
d 
m  M  5 log  
 10 
 Example
• Capella is a bright nearby star. Its apparent
magnitude is +0.05 and its distance is 14
parsecs. What is its absolute magnitude.
• Compare this value to the absolute magnitude of
the Sun(+4.8). How many magnitudes is Capella
brighter than the Sun and therefore calculate the
how many times more power is emitted by
Capella than our Sun.
 Answer
M  0.05  5 log( 1.4)  0.7
Capella is 5.5 magnitudes brighter than the Sun

How much more powerful than the Sun?

i1
m2  m1  5.5  2.5 log( )
i2
i1
 158
i2
So the intensity of radiation reaching Earth from Cappella at a
distance of 10 parsecs is about 160 times more than the Sun at
the same distance.
So Capella emits around 160 times the power of the Sun.