Other forms: apparent magnitudes
When astronomers describe the brightness of a star or other object they see in the sky, they use the term apparent magnitude.
Apparent magnitude measures how bright a celestial object, such as a star, appears from Earth. Those objects that appear brighter are assigned lower numbers than those that appear dimmer. Apparent magnitude is not a measure of a star's true brightness; instead, it takes into account how much light the star actually emits — its absolute magnitude — along with its distance from Earth. A very distant, very bright star might have the same apparent magnitude as a much closer, but dimmer star.