Question

Suppose you observe two stars and you know they have the same luminosity. If one star is twice as far away as the other, the more distant star will appear how many times fainter?

Answer 1

Answer:

The farther star will appear 4 times fainter than the star that is near to the observer.

Explanation:

Since it is given that the luminosity of the 2 stars is same thus they radiate the same energy per unit time

Consider a spherical wave front of energy 'E' that leaves both the stars (Both radiate 'E' as they have same luminosity)

This Energy is spread over the whole surface area of sphere Thus when the wave front is at a distance 'r' the energy per unit surface area is given by

$e_{1}=\frac{E}{4\pi r^{2}}$

For the star that is twice away from the earth the distance is '2r' thus we will receive an energy given by

$e_{2}=\frac{E}{4\pi (2r)^{2}}=\frac{E}{8\pi r^{2}}=\frac{e_{1}}{4}$

Hence we sense it as 4 times fainter than the nearer star.