For the calibration of relatively short distances the team observed Cepheid variables. These are pulsating stars which fade and brighten at rates that are proportional to their true brightness and ...

For a while now, astronomers have been confronting a conundrum. Studies of the early universe, looking at the era just after the Big Bang, tell us that the cosmos should be expanding at one speed. But ...

The cosmic distance ladder could soon have another rung. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Breaking space news, the latest updates ...

Trying to measure the size of the universe is no easy task. We know that the universe is expanding, though the exact rate of this expansion is not yet fixed. So one method that astronomers use to tell ...

The cosmic distance ladder is the world’s longest ruler, built to measure the universe. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scientists have been constructing a cosmic measuring tape to measure the ...

Determining distance is one of astronomy’s greatest challenges. For nearby objects, astronomers rely on parallax, which causes nearby stars to shift against the seemingly stationary background of more ...

An artist's conception of what's called the cosmic distance ladder -- a series of celestial objects, including type Ia supernovae that have known distances and can be used to calculate the rate at ...