[bugman]

.25 to .5. Fired up my Orion SpaceProbe 130ST last night. Almost as bright or as bright as the moon only smaller. Was somewhat surprised that it was so visible here in Wichita city limits.

Will be near the moon tonight.

[alexander_busek]

Almost as bright or as bright as the moon only smaller.

The brightest astronomical objects have negative apparent magnitudes: for example, Venus at −4.2 or Sirius at −1.46. [...] and the mean magnitude of the full moon is −12.74.

-12.74 minus -4.2 = 8.54 magnitudes.

The magnitude scale is logarithmic. One difference in magnitude is equivalent to a 2.5-fold difference in brightness.

The 8.54-fold greater magnitude of the Moon is thus equivalent to being 2.5 to the 8.54-power times brighter than Venus at its brightest.

That's roughly 2,000 times brighter!

Regards,