Astronomers have turned up the first direct proof that “standard candles” used to illuminate the size of the universe, termed Cepheids, shrink in mass, making them not quite as standard as once ...

A standard candle is an object whose luminosity, or brightness, is a known quantity. Standard candles are used by astronomers to estimate the distance of the candle itself, as well as nearby features, ...

Based on a survey of nearby galaxies, researchers conclude that type Ia supernovae—cosmology's "standard candles"—typically result from the collision of white ...

Your birthday cake isn’t the only thing studded with lights. If you see a faint light in the distance, it might be truly dim, or it might be quite bright but very far away. If you had some way of ...