Ask an astronomer this question, and she will respond that the flashlight, a few feet from your eyes, is apparently brighter than the distant headlights, but that the headlights are more luminous. Luminosity is the total energy radiated by a star each second. Luminosity is a quality intrinsic to the star; brightness may or may not be intrinsic. Absolute brightness is another name for luminosity, but apparent brightness is the fraction of energy emitted by a star that eventually strikes some surface or detection device (including our eyes). Apparent brightness varies with distance. The farther away an object is, the lower its apparent brightness.
Simply put, a very luminous star that is very far away from the earth can appear much fainter than a less luminous star that is much closer to the earth. Thus, although the Sun is the brightest star in the sky, it is not by any means the most luminous.
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