1. It's Inverse: Brighter objects have *smaller* magnitudes. This seems counterintuitive. We expect larger numbers to represent bigger things. For example, a star with magnitude 1 is brighter than a star with magnitude 2.
2. It's Logarithmic: The scale is logarithmic, meaning that a difference of one magnitude represents a factor of 2.512 times difference in brightness. This means the steps between magnitudes are not linear, further complicating the perception of brightness differences. For instance, a star with magnitude 1 is 2.512 times brighter than a magnitude 2 star, and 6.31 times brighter than a magnitude 3 star.
