ForumIAS announcing GS Foundation Program for UPSC CSE 2025-26 from 26th June. Click Here for more information.
Source: The post is based on the article “A new measurement could change understanding of the Universe: Study” published in ANI on 8th April 2023
What is the News?
A recent study carried out by the researchers was able to achieve the most accurate calibration of Cepheid stars.
What are Cepheid Stars?
Cepheid Star is a type of variable star which brightens and dims periodically.
Note: Variable stars are essentially stars that experience fluctuations in their brightness.
Named after: Cepheid variables are named for the first known example of the type, the star Delta Cephei, discovered to be variable in 1874.
Characteristics: Cepheids stars are a special type of variable star in that they are hot and massive – five to twenty times as much mass as our Sun – and are known for their tendency to pulsate radially and vary in both diameter and temperature.
– Cepheid star’s period (how often it pulsates) is directly related to its luminosity or brightness. They have luminosities 500-30,000 times greater than that of the Sun.
Significance: Cepheid variables are powerful tools in astronomy. They were an early stepping stone in the establishment of the cosmic distance ladder that now enables astronomers to estimate distances to objects hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of light-years away.
