The magnitude of a star is a number that is a measure of its brightness as seen on Earth. The brighter the star, the lower its magnitude. The data below show the magnitudes of five stars in our galaxy. Between what two consecutive integers is the magnitude of each star located? In most applications, the magnitude of a number is its size or amount. However, when talking about the magnitude of a star, magnitude includes negative numbers. Polaris (The North Star): 1.97 Sirius (The Dog Star): -1.45 Hadar (Beta Centauri): 0.61 Arcturus: -0.04 Canopus: -0.72