5th Grade Science Question of the Day

Mrs. Johnson's class is investigating the brightness of stars. Mrs. Johnson sets up the investigation, and the students begin working. The first two student volunteers held identical flashlights at an equal distance from the whiteboard. The class decides after noting the lights on the board look the same that when two stars are at an equal distance, they have the same actual brightness. For the second part of the investigation, two student volunteers held the identical flashlights at two different distances. Students observed than the flashlight that is closer to the whiteboard appears to be brighter than the flashlight that is further away from the whiteboard. Their observations are recorded in the data table below.

What inference can the students draw from this demonstration?