* Apparent magnitude is a measure of how bright a star appears from Earth. It's a logarithmic scale, meaning a difference of 5 magnitudes corresponds to a factor of 100 in brightness.
* Absolute magnitude, on the other hand, is a measure of a star's intrinsic brightness, or how bright it would appear if it were at a standard distance of 10 parsecs from Earth.
Therefore, a star's apparent magnitude is directly influenced by its distance. A star that is close to Earth will appear brighter than a star of the same intrinsic brightness that is farther away.
