"Classical Cepheids" are a type of pulsating star that rhythmically brighten and dim over time. These pulsations help astronomers measure vast distances across space, which makes Cepheids crucial "standard candles" that help ...
Astronomy
Jun 14, 2024
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Astronomers from the University of Warsaw, Poland and elsewhere have detected a new classical Cepheid variable star. The newfound star, which received designation OGLE-GD-CEP-1884, has the longest pulsation period known among ...
Measuring the distance to far away objects in space can be tricky. We don't even know the precise distance to even our closest neighbors in the universe—the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. But, we're starting to get ...
Astronomy
Mar 29, 2024
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An international team of astronomers has performed spectroscopic observations of a variable star known as V708 Car. Results of the observational campaign, reported in a paper published February 20 on the pre-print server ...
Some 13.8 billion years ago, the universe began with a rapid expansion we call the Big Bang. After this initial expansion, which lasted a fraction of a second, gravity started to slow the universe down. But the cosmos wouldn't ...
Astronomy
Feb 6, 2024
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Perhaps the greatest and most frustrating mystery in cosmology is the Hubble tension problem. Put simply, all the observational evidence we have points to a universe that began in a hot, dense state, and then expanded at ...
Astronomy
Jan 17, 2024
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The rate at which the universe is expanding, known as the Hubble constant, is one of the fundamental parameters for understanding the evolution and ultimate fate of the cosmos. However, a persistent difference called the ...
Astronomy
Sep 12, 2023
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When you look up in the night sky and find your way to the North Star, you are looking at Polaris. Not only is it the brightest star in the Ursa Minor constellation (the Little Dipper), but its position relative to the north ...
Astronomy
Sep 11, 2023
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189
How did we get here? Where are we going? And how long will it take? These questions are as old as humanity itself, and, if they've already been asked by other species elsewhere in the universe, potentially very much older ...
Astronomy
May 14, 2023
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The universe is expanding, but how fast exactly? The answer appears to depend on whether you estimate the cosmic expansion rate—referred to as the Hubble's constant, or H0—based on the echo of the Big Bang (the cosmic ...
Astronomy
Apr 4, 2023
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