Does the apparent brightness increase or decrease as a star appears less bight to someone on Earth?

Which star is cooler Alpha Crucis, Beta Crucis, Gamma, Crucis, or Delta Crucis?Does the apparent brightness increase or decrease as a star appears less bight to someone on Earth?Oh great, I'm terrible with the southern sky!!!



For the title question, the answer is "decrease."



In magnitude, a lower number = brighter star.



The sun is roughly apparent magnitude of -26.

Full moon, -13. (This does not mean the sun is twice as bright, because levels of magnitude are on a logarithmic scale... each magnitude is about 2.51 times brighter than it's fainter counterpart).



Venus at it's brightest -4

Faintest naked eye stars +6



As far as the coolest stars go, you could look at color. Red stars are the coolest, blue-white are the hottest. Or you could look them up on the HR Diagram or find out their classification type. Star Classifications, in order from hottest to coolest:



O

B

A

F

G

K

M



Sorry I can't help you with the Centaurus "pointer" stars. I will look it up and see if I can find out for you!



%26lt;Edit%26gt;

Centaurus pointer stars explained here:

http://www.wonderbookofknowledge.com/cen鈥?/a>