Concept information
Preferred term
cepheid
Definition
- A Cepheid variable is a yellow giant or supergiant pulsating variable whose period of pulsation is directly related to its luminosity: the longer the period, the greater the mean intrinsic brightness. This strict period-luminosity relationship makes Cepheids important cosmic distance indicators, since, by measuring a Cepheid's period and comparing the intrinsic brightness, which this yields, with the apparent brightness, the star's distance can be worked out. In addition, since Cepheids are so bright that they can be seen in other galaxies, they help establish a distance scale well beyond the Milky Way. (Encyclopedia of Science, by David Darling, https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/Cepheid_variable.html)
Broader concept
In other languages
-
French
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-BFGTCMTF-V
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