An image of the Cepheid variable star RS Puppis. The most accurate observation to date of distant stars that periodically change in brightness may spark a rethink of the rate at which the universe ...

The new results, from a team led by Grzegorz Pietrzyński (Universidad de Concepción, Chile, Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Poland), appear in the Nov. 25, 2010 edition of the ...

Stellar distances are primarily determined by the inverse-square law of light, which mathematically links a star's apparent brightness (m), intrinsic brightness (absolute magnitude, M), and distance ...

This excess emission could affect the distance measurement of Cepheids in infrared radiation, introducing uncertainties of several percent — unless we estimate correctly the amount of material ...

The size and age of our Universe is not only a critically important issue in cosmology, but is also among the most controversial and delicate of the cosmological questions. Infrared observations made ...

Yardsticks are very useful around the house when you need a measurement. (I have also used them to fish out toys the cat knocked under a low piece of furniture.) They are standards by which we can ...

Since the 1960s, a class of special pulsating stars has stymied scientists attempting to weigh them. The two main ideas for how to measure these stars' masses have so far produced vastly different ...

It’s a bit mind-bending to realise that everything we know about the scale of the universe comes from people stuck […] ...

Physicists have improved the accuracy of a technique that uses variable stars to measure distances in the universe, providing a new figure for its expansion rate. When you purchase through links on ...

Since the 1960s, a class of special pulsating stars has stymied scientists attempting to weigh them. The two main ideas for how to measure these stars' masses have so far produced vastly different ...