The S10 System Applied to Celestial Non-Point-Source Objects in Determining Surface Brightness

Volume 29 number 2 (2001)

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Ronald E. Zissell

Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA 01075

Abstract

The magnitude system that we use to rate the brightness of stars has major problems when applied to extended objects such as galaxies, nebulae, or comets. The S10 brightness system gives a more realistic measure of an object’s visibility in the telescope.