星等

xīngděng
noun #77,362

Meanings

  1. 1 stellar magnitude
  2. 2 magnitude of a star (astronomy)

Examples

Tiānlángxīng de xīngděng yuē wéi fù yī diǎn sì liù.
Sirius has a magnitude of approximately -1.46.
Xīngděng shùzhí yuè xiǎo, xīngxing jiù yuè liàng.
The smaller the magnitude value, the brighter the star.

Tips

memory
Counterintuitive scale: lower number = brighter star. The system traces back to Hipparchus (2nd century BC), who ranked the brightest naked-eye stars as 'first class' (一等) and the faintest as 'sixth class' ().

Stroke Order

xīng
děng