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There are a variety of methods used to measure distance, each one building on the one before and forming a cosmic distance ladder. The first, which is actually only usable inside the solar system, is basic Radar and LIDAR. LIDAR is really only used to measure distance to the moon.
Measuring the distance to clusters and near by galaxies (the Magelenic clouds in particular) for finding distances inside the galaxy because it increase the total population of star we can use to calibrate the HR-diagram.
At least 44 extragalactic distance measurement methods are known, apart from the parallax method which is only useful for objects in our own galaxy. Further reading about these can be done here: 1, 2, 3.
One very important technique uses the properties of variable stars to measure their distance. Variable stars vary in brightness over periods ranging from less than an hour to several years. One type of variable called a Cepheid has certain properties that allow distance to be easily calculated.
11 sty 2022 · By comparing the intrinsic brightness to the star's apparent brightness, we can get a good measure of the star's distance by applying the 1/r^2 rule.
The H–R diagram method allows astronomers to estimate distances to nearby stars, as well as some of the most distant stars in our Galaxy, but it is anchored by measurements of parallax. The distances measured using parallax are the gold standard for distances: they rely on no assumptions, only geometry.
19 paź 2023 · The most common way to measure the distance to a star is by using the parallax method. This is where an astronomer will take note of the star’s position in the night sky and then measure it again six months later.
