[WinterMount223]

> too. It does act like a radiation shield, exponentially damping the distant starlight.

This is wrong, damping is not exponential but to the fourth root.

[vikingerik]

A root is a fractional exponent; I can see that as a valid description.

[WinterMount223]

Exponentially means that it grows like exp(x).

[adhesive_wombat]

Also it's an important distinction, because an exponential will always eventually grow (or shrink, depending on sign) faster than a polynomial, no matter how high order.