We are talking about someone who has achieved certain heights in his business, reached the highest stage of success in some field. Origin of the expression star of the first magnitude- this is a direct comparison with the classification of astronomical objects.

In the starry sky, the naked eye can see that stars differ in their brightness, that is, in their apparent brilliance. This also includes the concept of visible magnitude, which was first described and classified by the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the 2nd century BC. e. Magnitude- dimensionless numerical characteristic of the brightness of an object. Hipparchus divided everything stars by six quantities. He named the brightest ones stars of the first magnitude, the dimmest are stars of the sixth magnitude. He distributed the intermediate values ​​evenly among the remaining stars.

Later, based on the works of Hipparchus and his own studies of the starry sky, Ptolemy compiled a star catalog, which was used by scientists and astronomers for more than a thousand years. In it, Ptolemy left Hipparchus' classification regarding stellar brightness, classifying stars by the brightness of their glow, that is, by their apparent brightness. The visible brightness does not carry any other characteristics of a particular star, because it depends not so much on the size of the star itself, but on the distance of the star from the Earth and on some other optical parameters.

When applied to people, the expression star of the first magnitude characterizes a person as figure of the first magnitude in your business, with your branch of knowledge, art, etc. And the word star in this characteristic, it emphasizes the brilliant abilities or knowledge of this person.

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Even people far from astronomy know that stars have different brightnesses. The brightest stars are easily visible in the overexposed city sky, while the faintest stars are barely visible under ideal viewing conditions.

To characterize the brightness of stars and other celestial bodies (for example, planets, meteors, the Sun and the Moon), scientists have developed a scale of stellar magnitudes.

Apparent magnitude(m; often called simply “magnitude”) indicates the radiation flux near the observer, i.e., the observed brightness of the celestial source, which depends not only on the actual radiation power of the object, but also on the distance to it.

This is a dimensionless astronomical quantity that characterizes the illumination created by a celestial object near the observer.

Illumination– luminous quantity equal to the ratio of the luminous flux incident on a small area of ​​the surface to its area.
The unit of illumination in the International System of Units (SI) is lux (1 lux = 1 lumen per square meter), in GHS (centimeter-gram-second) it is phot (one phot is equal to 10,000 lux).

Illumination is directly proportional to the luminous intensity of the light source. As the source moves away from the illuminated surface, its illumination decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance (inverse square law).

Subjectively visible stellar magnitude is perceived as brightness (for point sources) or brightness (for extended sources).

In this case, the brightness of one source is indicated by comparing it with the brightness of another, taken as a standard. Such standards usually serve as specially selected fixed stars.

Magnitude was first introduced as an indicator of the visible brightness of stars in the optical range, but later extended to other radiation ranges: infrared, ultraviolet.

Thus, the apparent magnitude m or brightness is a measure of the illumination E created by the source on the surface perpendicular to its rays at the observation location.

Historically, it all began more than 2000 years ago, when the ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus(2nd century BC) divided the stars visible to the eye into 6 magnitudes.

Hipparchus assigned the brightest stars the first magnitude, and the dimmest, barely visible to the eye, the sixth, the rest were evenly distributed among intermediate magnitudes. Moreover, Hipparchus made the division into stellar magnitudes so that stars of the 1st magnitude seemed as much brighter than stars of the 2nd magnitude as they seemed brighter than stars of the 3rd magnitude, etc. That is, from gradation to gradation the brightness of the stars changed by one and the same size.

As it turned out later, the connection between such a scale and real physical quantities is logarithmic, since a change in brightness by the same number of times is perceived by the eye as a change by the same amount - empirical psychophysiological law of Weber–Fechner, according to which the intensity of sensation is directly proportional to the logarithm of the intensity of the stimulus.

This is due to the peculiarities of human perception, for example, if 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 identical light bulbs are lit sequentially in a chandelier, then it seems to us that the illumination in the room is constantly increasing by the same amount. That is, the number of light bulbs turned on should increase by the same number of times (in the example, twice) so that it seems to us that the increase in brightness is constant.

The logarithmic dependence of the strength of sensation E on the physical intensity of the stimulus P is expressed by the formula:

E = k log P + a, (1)

where k and a are certain constants determined by a given sensory system.

In the middle of the 19th century. English astronomer Norman Pogson formalized the magnitude scale, which took into account the psychophysiological law of vision.

Based on actual observational results, he postulated that

A STAR OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE IS EXACTLY 100 TIMES BRIGHTER THAN A STAR OF THE SIXTH MAGNITUDE.

In this case, in accordance with expression (1), the apparent magnitude is determined by the equality:

m = -2.5 log E + a, (2)

2.5 – Pogson coefficient, minus sign – a tribute to historical tradition (brighter stars have a lower, including negative, magnitude);
a is the zero point of the magnitude scale, established by international agreement related to the choice of the base point of the measurement scale.

If E 1 and E 2 correspond to the magnitudes m 1 and m 2, then from (2) it follows that:

E 2 /E 1 = 10 0.4(m 1 - m 2) (3)

A decrease in magnitude by one m1 - m2 = 1 leads to an increase in illumination E by approximately 2.512 times. When m 1 - m 2 = 5, which corresponds to the range from the 1st to the 6th magnitude, the change in illumination will be E 2 / E 1 = 100.

Pogson's formula in its classic form establishes a relationship between apparent stellar magnitudes:

m 2 - m 1 = -2.5 (logE 2 - logE 1) (4)

This formula allows you to determine the difference in stellar magnitudes, but not the magnitudes themselves.

To use it to construct an absolute scale, you need to set null point– brightness, which corresponds to zero magnitude (0 m). At first, the brilliance of Vega was taken as 0 m. Then the null point was redefined, but for visual observations Vega can still serve as a standard of zero visible magnitude (according to the modern system, in the V band of the UBV system, its magnitude is +0.03 m, which is indistinguishable from zero to the eye).

Usually, the zero point of the magnitude scale is taken conditionally based on a set of stars, careful photometry of which has been carried out using various methods.

Also, a well-defined illumination is taken as 0 m, equal to the energy value E = 2.48 * 10 -8 W/m². Actually, it is the illumination that astronomers determine during observations, and only then it is specially converted into stellar magnitudes.

They do this not only because “it’s more common,” but also because magnitude turned out to be a very convenient concept.

magnitude turned out to be a very convenient concept

Measuring illumination in watts per square meter is extremely cumbersome: for the Sun the value is large, and for faint telescopic stars it is very small. At the same time, it is much easier to operate with stellar magnitudes, since the logarithmic scale is extremely convenient for displaying very large ranges of magnitude values.

The Pogson formalization subsequently became the standard method for estimating stellar magnitude.

True, the modern scale is no longer limited to six magnitudes or only visible light. Very bright objects can have a negative magnitude. For example, Sirius, the brightest star in the celestial sphere, has a magnitude of minus 1.47 m. The modern scale also allows us to obtain values ​​for the Moon and the Sun: the full moon has a magnitude of -12.6 m, and the Sun -26.8 m. The Hubble orbital telescope can observe objects whose brightness is up to approximately 31.5 m.

Magnitude scale
(the scale is reversed: lower values ​​correspond to brighter objects)

Apparent magnitudes of some celestial bodies

Sun: -26.73
Moon (full moon): -12.74
Venus (at maximum brightness): -4.67
Jupiter (at maximum brightness): -2.91
Sirius: -1.44
Vega: 0.03
Faintest stars visible to the naked eye: about 6.0
Sun from 100 light years away: 7.30
Proxima Centauri: 11.05
Brightest quasar: 12.9
The faintest objects photographed by the Hubble telescope: 31.5

Star of the first magnitude Vostorzh. A person who has become famous in some field of knowledge or activity. - Medvedeva has another merit for the Maly Theater, not only as an artist: everyone in the history of the theater knows that Medvedeva discovered, guessed and gave the theater a star of the first magnitude - Ermolov(T. Shchepkina-Kupernik. Theater in my life).

Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language. - M.: Astrel, AST. A. I. Fedorov. 2008.

See what a “Star of the first magnitude” is in other dictionaries:

star of the first magnitude- See glorious... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and similar expressions. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian Dictionaries, 1999. star of the first magnitude noun, number of synonyms: 9 ... Synonym dictionary

Star of the first magnitude- Borrowed from astronomy. Even in the first astronomical catalogs of the ancient Greek scientists Hiparchus (2nd century BC) and Claudius Ptolemy (c. 90 c. 160), all stars visible to the eye were divided into six “magnitudes” according to the degree of brightness. Respectively… … Dictionary of popular words and expressions

Star of the first magnitude- Book Approved, Shutl. or Iron. About an outstanding figure, master, specialist in what field. areas. FSRY, 172; BMS 1998, 204 ...

star- See famous, glorious, fate is far away, like a star in heaven, a guiding star... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian Dictionaries, 1999. star (celestial) body, asterisk, beacon of the universe, ... ... Synonym dictionary

star- s, plural stars, w. 1. A celestial body consisting of hot gases (plasma), similar in nature to the Sun and appearing to the human eye as a luminous point in the night sky. Polar Star. Evening Star. □ The air was fresh and... ... Small academic dictionary

star- s, wine; y/; pl. stars, stars, stars; and. see also stellar, asterisk 1) a) A self-luminous celestial body, similar in nature to the Sun and visible in the night sky as a bright point. Polar Star/. A cluster of stars... Dictionary of many expressions

STAR- To the white stars. Pribike. Long, late. SNFP, 70. There are not enough stars from the sky. Razg. Iron. or Neglect About a narrow-minded, incapable, mediocre person. FSRY, 172; BMS 1998, 204; BTS, 1440. Grab the stars. Bashk. About stains on clothes. SRGB 1,… … Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Star- y, wine. y; pl. stars, stars, stars; and. 1. A self-luminous celestial body, similar in nature to the Sun and visible in the night sky as a bright point. Polar z. Cluster of stars. The shining of the stars. The stars light up, shine, twinkle. The stars of the first,... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

STAR- STAR, s, plural. stars, stars, am, women. 1. A celestial body (a hot ball of gas), visible at night as a luminous point. The stars lit up. The sky is filled with stars. Polar z. Z. of the first magnitude (the brightest, and also translated: about an outstanding artist, ... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Wolf-Rayet's Star- Artistic depiction of a Wolf Rayet star Wolf Rayet stars are a class of stars characterized by very high temperature and luminosity; Wolf Rayet stars differ from other hot stars by the presence of broad hydrogen emission bands in their spectrum... Wikipedia

Books

• Supporting star, Georgy Lanskoy. Marina came to Moscow to pursue a musical career. It’s not easy to make your way in the capital, but the stubborn provincial girl doesn’t give up and is ready to gnaw her way to glory with her teeth. Moreover, in front of her...