Question

station seven
when we look up at the night sky, we see stars shining with different
levels of brightness. how bright a star looks depends on two things: its
distance away from us, and how much light it is putting out.
apparent magnitude is how bright a star looks from earth, and it
depends on how far away it is from earth. absolute magnitude is how
bright a star really is, no matter where it is in space.
*the lower the number, the higher the brightness.
how does a stars surface temperature relate to absolute magnitude?

Explanation:

Step1: Observe the data

Look at the values of temperature and absolute magnitude for each star.

Step2: Analyze the trend

As the temperature of the star decreases (from \(27500\) K for Alnilam to \(3223\) K for Barnard's Star), the absolute magnitude value increases (\(-6.89\) for Alnilam to \(13.21\) for Barnard's Star). Since a lower absolute - magnitude number means higher brightness, and temperature is also decreasing.

Answer:

As the surface temperature of a star decreases, its absolute magnitude (a measure related to its intrinsic brightness) increases. So, there is a positive correlation between a star's surface temperature and its brightness (a lower absolute magnitude means higher brightness), i.e., higher - temperature stars tend to have lower (more bright - indicating) absolute magnitudes.