distance
Astronomers Only Knew of a Single Binary Cepheid System. Now They Just Found Nine More
Measuring the distance to far away objects in space can be tricky. We don't even know the precise distance to…
At cosmic distances, even the speed of light is really slow
The speed of light is the absolute fastest thing in the universe, clocking in at a whopping 299,792,458 meters per…
How Far Back Are We Looking in Time?
When we look out into space, we're also looking back into time. Just how far back can we see? The…
How Do We Know How Old Everything Is?
We hear that rocks are a certain age, and stars are another age. And the Universe itself is 13.7 billion…
How Do We Measure Distance in the Universe?
This star is X light-years away, that galaxy is X million light-years away. That beginning the Universe is X billion…
GAIA is “Go” for Science After a few Minor Hiccups
In astronomy we throw around the term "light-year" seemingly as fast as light itself travels. And yet actually measuring this…
If the Moon Were Only One Pixel: a Scale Model of the Solar System
One of my favorite pet peeves is the inability of conventional models to accurately convey the gigantic scale of the…
- Cosmology
- Herschel Space Telescope
- Infrared Astronomy
- Observatories
- Spitzer
- Star Formation
- Stars
- Stellar Evolution
Orion Revisited: Astronomers Find New Star Cluster in Front of the Orion Nebula
The well-known star-forming region of the Orion Nebula. Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope / Coelum (J.-C. Cuillandre & G. Anselmi) Precise distances…
How To Measure the Universe
Measuring distance doesn't sound like a very challenging thing to do -- just pick your standard unit of choice and…
Distance to Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the closest known star system to the Solar System. Also known as Rigil Kentaurus, Alpha Centauri is…