But the objects in modern day lists are still numbered one-up from west to east, exactly the same way Flamsteed did it. There's a hodgepodge of ways to designate double stars, and variable stars have an entirely different nomenclature. We'll cross these bridges in the next file, after the following discussion on magnitudes. In the introductory files in the table of contents recommended for beginners, this is the seventh topic. The fourth column in the above table shows the magnitude.
Lower magnitudes indicate brighter stars.
Obviously these stars in the handle of the big dipper are brighter than d . You won't be able to detect this star with your naked eye unless you're at a fairly dark observing site. So if we refer to a star as being at the second magnitude, we indicating that it's just as bright as the second magnitude stars in the big dipper. Polaris is the only star in the sky which doesn't seem to move and all the other stars seem to rotate around it. So if two stars differ by, say, five magnitudes the more luminous star is exactly 100 times brighter than the fainter one.