What star Will emit more light a bright star or a fairly dim star?

1 Answer
Jan 11, 2018

Depends on distance and potential obstructions

Explanation:

Provided there are no obstructions between the stars and the Earth, if the stars are the same distance away from Earth, and your vantage point is Earth, then the bright star will emit more light than the dimmer star. But bright and dim also depends on how far away the star is. A star with high luminosity (e.g. a supergiant) that is a lot further away than a star with low luminosity (e.g. a white dwarf) might seem to look dimmer than the star with low luminosity, but it is still emits more light.

tl;dr: a bright star does not necessarily emit more light than a dim star, it depends on distance, obstructions (e.g. a gas cloud) and luminosity