What is the Sun's absolute magnitude?

1 Answer
Jan 27, 2016

Absolute magnitude (M) is the measure of intrinsic brightness of a celestial object. M for Sun is 4.83, nearly. For comparison, M for brighter star is smaller.

Explanation:

The apparent magnitude m is related to absolute magnitude M through distance d in parsec by M - m = - 5 log (d/10). For the Sun, m = - 26.74, M = 4.83 and the formula gives d = 0.5E-05 parsec that tallies with 1 AU, using the approximation 1 parsec = 200000 AU..