Astrophysics (Index)About

bolometric magnitude

(Mbol, Mbol, absolute bolometric magnitude)
(absolute magnitude of all wavelengths)

Bolometric magnitude (or absolute bolometric magnitude, Mbol or Mbol) is the magnitude of an astronomical object covering all wavelengths (as opposed to that of merely its visible light or its EMR within a particular passband), scaled like an absolute magnitude. (Without the word "absolute", there is some ambiguity: it could be used to mean apparent bolometric magnitude.) Presuming the object emits EMR identically in all directions i.e., its emission is isotropic, which is very close to true for most stars, bolometric magnitude is a logarithmic measure of the object's luminosity. It may be approximated from observation measurements by determining the absolute magnitude, then applying a bolometric correction.


(measure,brightness,logarithmic,EMR,magnitude)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_magnitude#Bolometric_magnitude
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/b/Bolometric+Magnitude
https://pages.uoregon.edu/jschombe/glossary/bolometric_magnitude.html
https://web.njit.edu/~gary/321/Lecture2.html

Referenced by pages:
absolute magnitude (M)
apparent magnitude (m)
bolometer
bolometric correction
bolometric luminosity (LBol)
faint blue galaxy (FBG)
luminosity (L)
magnitude
stellar luminosity determination
Vega system

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