The apparent brightness of stars in general tells us nothing about their distances; we cannot assume that the dimmer stars are farther away. In order for the apparent brightness of a star to be a good indicator of its distance, all the stars would have to be:. a. at the same distance
b. the same composition
c. the same luminosity
d. by themselves instead of in binary or double-star systems
e. a lot farther away than they presently are