Cepheid

Any of a class of variable stars whose luminosity fluctuates with an extremely regular period. There is a strong correlation between the absolute magnitude of a Cepheid's luminosity and its period. By comparing the apparent magnitude of a Cepheid to the absolute magnitude corresponding to its period, it is possible to determine fairly accurately how distant the Cepheid is from Earth.
Also called Cepheid variable

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Example Sentences

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She was particularly interested in Cepheid variables, which are stars whose brightness pulses regularly, so they get brighter and dimmer with a particular period.

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Once you measure a Cepheid’s period, you can calculate its distance from how bright it appears using the inverse square law.

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Hubble worked hard, taking images of spiral nebulae every clear night and looking for the telltale variations of Cepheid variables.

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He calculated M31’s distance as a prodigious 900,000 light years away, though he underestimated its true distance – about 2.5 million light years – by not realizing there were two different types of Cepheid variables.

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But some astronomers suggested that, moving outward along the "second rung," the cosmic distance ladder might get shaky if the Cepheid measurements become less accurate with distance.

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-cephaly Cepheid variable

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