Bounty board questions

[japp_02]

The bounty board is now open for me after being a member of the guild. But I have a hard time understanding. It's all about the colums 4 & 6, the others are self-explaining.
Now I see this in the list:

Rank 45 >> lev 23 (column 4) >> 1 grey star (column 6) >> you get 36k money
Rank 28 >> lev 38 >>>>>>>>>>> 1 grey star >>>>>>>>>>> you get 1.000.000+ money

I always though that the level of a NPC pilot is what makes it difficult or less, I also know that 1 grey star is the lowest difficulty for the mission. But what makes it less difficult than say 3 stars or purple stars (top ranked in the wanted list?)
In essence, I don't get why 2 columns are for the difficulty and contradicting (I expect a level 15 pilot more easy than any higher level, so I don't even need to look at column 6). Also many lower ranked have a much higher difficulty yet a lower level. How to explain this?

Thanks anyone to clarify.

[Old Scaley]

I've only just started Bounty missions, It seems to me that the number of stars indicates the number of enemies likely to be encountered......more stars,more opponents. I may be wrong but that's what I've experienced so far. The target may be low level but you may be overwhelmed.....

[krammer68]

Order from weak to strong - Grey star, Blue star, Red/Brown star, Green head. Purple stars must be ultimate level. For example, a level 16 3 star Red may be harder than a level 18 or 19 Grey.