Surface Brightness
The overall brightness of an extended astronomical object such as a galaxy, star cluster, or nebula, can be measured by its total magnitude, integrated magnitude or integrated visual magnitude; a related concept is surface brightness, which specifies the brightness of a standard-sized piece of an extended object.
Read more about Surface Brightness: General Description, Calculating Surface Brightness, Relationship To Physical Units
Famous quotes containing the words surface and/or brightness:
“The surface of the ground in the Maine woods is everywhere spongy and saturated with moisture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For pain is perhaps but a violent pleasure? Who could determine the point where pleasure becomes pain, where pain is still a pleasure? Is not the utmost brightness of the ideal world soothing to us, while the lightest shadows of the physical world annoy?”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)