Often in these weekly Night Sky columns I refer to the magnitude of a star or planet. The concept of magnitude is relatively easy to grasp. Put simply, magnitude indicates an object’s degree of ...

The astronomical magnitude system, initially developed by Hipparchus and refined by Ptolemy, quantifies the brightness of celestial objects, with brighter objects having lower magnitudes. Norman R.

The initial magnitude scale was established by Greek astronomer Hipparchus around 135 B.C.E., categorizing approximately 850 stars into six ranges from 1st (brightest) to 6th (faintest) magnitude.

Much as we measure the intensity of natural phenomena such as earthquakes or tornadoes with a “magnitude,” we also use the term to refer to a star’s brightness. Unfortunately, many beginning ...

Jupiter shines at magnitude -2.67 this week, the brightest it will be until October 2034. It will be easy to spot in the ...