Apparent magnitude
Table of notable celestial objects
Some of the above magnitudes are only approximate. Telescope sensitivity also depends on observing time, optical bandpass, and interfering light from scattering and airglow.

Apparent magnitude

Section Title: Table of notable celestial objects
Table Section Text: Some of the above magnitudes are only approximate. Telescope sensitivity also depends on observing time, optical bandpass, and interfering light from scattering and airglow.

Apparent magnitude (V)	Object	Seen from...	Notes

−67.57	gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B	seen from 1 AU away

−44.00	star R136a1	seen from 1 AU away

−40.07	star Zeta1 Scorpii	seen from 1 AU away

−38.00	star Rigel	seen from 1 AU away	It would be seen as a large very bright bluish disk of 35° apparent diameter.

−30.30	star Sirius A	seen from 1 AU away

−29.30	star Sun	seen from Mercury at perihelion

−27.40	star Sun	seen from Venus at perihelion

−26.74	star Sun	seen from Earth	About 400,000 times brighter than mean full moon

−25.60	star Sun	seen from Mars at aphelion

−25.00	Minimum brightness that causes the typical eye slight pain to look at

−23.00	star Sun	seen from Jupiter at aphelion

−21.70	star Sun	seen from Saturn at aphelion

−20.20	star Sun	seen from Uranus at aphelion

−19.30	star Sun	seen from Neptune

−18.20	star Sun	seen from Pluto at aphelion

−16.70	star Sun	seen from Eris at aphelion

−14.20	An illumination level of 1 lux

−12.90	full moon	seen from Earth at perihelion	maximum brightness of perigee + perihelion + full moon (mean distance value is −12.74, though values are about 0.18 magnitude brighter when including the opposition effect)

−11.20	star Sun	seen from Sedna at aphelion

−10.00	Comet Ikeya–Seki (1965)	seen from Earth	which was the brightest Kreutz Sungrazer of modern times

−9.50	Iridium (satellite) flare	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

−7.50	supernova of 1006	seen from Earth	the brightest stellar event in recorded history (7200 light-years away)

−6.50	The total integrated magnitude of the night sky	seen from Earth

−6.00	Crab Supernova of 1054	seen from Earth	(6500 light-years away)

−5.90	International Space Station	seen from Earth	when the ISS is at its perigee and fully lit by the Sun

−4.92	planet Venus	seen from Earth	maximum brightness when illuminated as a crescent

−4.14	planet Venus	seen from Earth	mean brightness

−4	Faintest objects observable during the day with naked eye when Sun is high

−3.99	star Epsilon Canis Majoris	seen from Earth	maximum brightness of 4.7 million years ago, the historical brightest star of the last and next five million years

−2.98	planet Venus	seen from Earth	minimum brightness when it is on the far side of the Sun

−2.94	planet Jupiter	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

−2.94	planet Mars	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

−2.5	Faintest objects visible during the day with naked eye when Sun is less than 10° above the horizon

−2.50	new moon	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

−2.48	planet Mercury	seen from Earth	maximum brightness at superior conjunction (unlike Venus, Mercury is at its brightest when on the far side of the Sun, the reason being their different phase curves)

−2.20	planet Jupiter	seen from Earth	mean brightness

−1.66	planet Jupiter	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

−1.47	star system Sirius	seen from Earth	Brightest star except for the Sun at visible wavelengths

−0.83	star Eta Carinae	seen from Earth	apparent brightness as a supernova impostor in April 1843

−0.72	star Canopus	seen from Earth	2nd brightest star in night sky

−0.55	planet Saturn	seen from Earth	maximum brightness near opposition and perihelion when the rings are angled toward Earth

−0.3	Halley's comet	seen from Earth	Expected apparent magnitude at 2061 passage

−0.27	star system Alpha Centauri AB	seen from Earth	Combined magnitude (3rd brightest star in night sky)

−0.04	star Arcturus	seen from Earth	4th brightest star to the naked eye

−0.01	star Alpha Centauri A	seen from Earth	4th brightest individual star visible telescopically in the night sky

+0.03	star Vega	seen from Earth	which was originally chosen as a definition of the zero point

+0.23	planet Mercury	seen from Earth	mean brightness

+0.50	star Sun	seen from Alpha Centauri

+0.46	planet Saturn	seen from Earth	mean brightness

+0.71	planet Mars	seen from Earth	mean brightness

+1.17	planet Saturn	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

+1.86	planet Mars	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

+3.03	supernova SN 1987A	seen from Earth	in the Large Magellanic Cloud (160,000 light-years away)

+3 to +4	Faintest stars visible in an urban neighborhood with naked eye

+3.44	Andromeda Galaxy	seen from Earth	M31

+4	Orion Nebula	seen from Earth	M42

+4.38	moon Ganymede	seen from Earth	maximum brightness (moon of Jupiter and the largest moon in the Solar System)

+4.50	open cluster M41	seen from Earth	an open cluster that may have been seen by Aristotle

+4.5	Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy	seen from Earth

+5.20	asteroid Vesta	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+5.38	planet Uranus	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+5.68	planet Uranus	seen from Earth	mean brightness

+5.72	spiral galaxy M33	seen from Earth	which is used as a test for naked eye seeing under dark skies

+5.8	gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B	seen from Earth	Peak visual magnitude (the "Clarke Event") seen on Earth on March 19, 2008 from a distance of 7.5 billion light-years.

+6.03	planet Uranus	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

+6.49	asteroid Pallas	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+6.5	Approximate limit of stars observed by a mean naked eye observer under very good conditions. There are about 9,500 stars visible to mag 6.5.

+6.64	dwarf planet Ceres	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+6.75	asteroid Iris	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+6.90	spiral galaxy M81	seen from Earth	This is an extreme naked-eyetarget that pushes human eyesight and the Bortle scale to the limit

+7 to +8	Extreme naked-eye limit, Class 1 on Bortle scale, the darkest skies available on Earth

+7.25	planet Mercury	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

+7.67	planet Neptune	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+7.78	planet Neptune	seen from Earth	mean brightness

+8.00	planet Neptune	seen from Earth	minimum brightness

+8.10	moon Titan	seen from Earth	maximum brightness; largest moon of Saturn; mean opposition magnitude 8.4

+8.29	star UY Scuti	seen from Earth	Maximum brightness; largest known star by radius

+8.94	asteroid 10 Hygiea	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+9.50	Faintest objects visible using common 7×50 binoculars under typical conditions

+10.20	moon Iapetus	seen from Earth	maximum brightness, brightest when west of Saturn and takes 40 days to switch sides

+10.7	Luhman 16	seen from Earth	Closest brown dwarfs

+11.05	star Proxima Centauri	seen from Earth	2nd closest star

+11.8	moon Phobos	seen from Earth	Maximum brightness; brightest moon of Mars

+12.23	star R136a1	seen from Earth	Most luminous and massive star known

+12.89	moon Deimos	seen from Earth	Maximum brightness

+12.91	quasar 3C 273	seen from Earth	brightest (luminosity distance of 2.4 billion light-years)

+13.42	moon Triton	seen from Earth	Maximum brightness

+13.65	dwarf planet Pluto	seen from Earth	maximum brightness, 725 times fainter than magnitude 6.5 naked eye skies

+13.9	moon Titania	seen from Earth	Maximum brightness; brightest moon of Uranus

+14.1	star WR 102	seen from Earth	Hottest known star

+15.4	centaur Chiron	seen from Earth	maximum brightness

+15.55	moon Charon	seen from Earth	maximum brightness (the largest moon of Pluto)

+16.8	dwarf planet Makemake	seen from Earth	Current opposition brightness

+17.27	dwarf planet Haumea	seen from Earth	Current opposition brightness

+18.7	dwarf planet Eris	seen from Earth	Current opposition brightness

+20.7	moon Callirrhoe	seen from Earth	(small ≈8 km satellite of Jupiter)

+22	Faintest objects observable in visible light with a 600 mm (24″) Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with 30 minutes of stacked images (6 subframes at 5 minutes each) using a CCD detector

+22.91	moon Hydra	seen from Earth	maximum brightness of Pluto's moon

+23.38	moon Nix	seen from Earth	maximum brightness of Pluto's moon

+25.0	moon Fenrir	seen from Earth	(small ≈4 km satellite of Saturn)

+27.6	planet Jupiter	seen from Earth	if it were located 5,000 AU (750 billion km) from the Sun

+27.7	Faintest objects observable with an 8-meter class ground-based telescope such as the Subaru Telescope in a 10-hour image

+28.2	Halley's Comet	seen from Earth	in 2003 when it was 28 AU from the Sun

+28.4	asteroid 2003 BH91	seen from Earth	observed magnitude of ≈15-kilometer Kuiper belt object Seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2003, dimmest known directly-observed asteroid.

+31.5	Faintest objects observable in visible light with Hubble Space Telescope

+34	Faintest objects observable in visible light with James Webb Space Telescope

+35	unnamed asteroid	seen from Earth	expected magnitude of dimmest known asteroid, a 950-meter Kuiper belt object discovered by the HST passing in front of a star in 2009.

+35	star LBV 1806-20	seen from Earth	a luminous blue variable star, expected magnitude at visible wavelengths due to interstellar extinction

See also: List of brightest stars

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