The farther the star is, the smaller the angles. For stars more than about 100 light-years from Earth, we cannot measure any shift and the method fails. The mathematical formula of a parallax distance is:

It is not an easy thing to measure the distances to objects in the universe since these objects are usually very far away. We can't just run out there with a ruler! To measure distances in the universe, we will …

Supernovae At large distances (up to about 1 billion light-years), astronomers can no longer use methods such as parallax or Cepheid variables. At such large distances, the parallax shift becomes …

The universe is a vast expanse of space which contains all of the matter and energy in existence. The universe contains all of the galaxies, stars, and planets. The exact size of the universe is unknown. …

Constellations can be a useful way to help identify positions of stars in the sky. Constellations have imaginary boundaries formed by "connecting the dots" and all the stars within those boundaries are …

Pluto is usually farthest from the Sun. However, its orbit "crosses" inside of Neptune's orbit for 20 years out of every 248 years. Pluto last crossed inside Neptune's orbit on February 7, 1979, and …

Cepheids, also called Cepheid Variables, are stars which brigthen and dim periodically. This behavior allows them to be used as cosmic yardsticks out to distances of a few tens of millions of light-years.

There is no current problem of greater importance to cosmology than that of dark matter. Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect, or emit light, so they cannot be detected by …

This modern method of measuring distances is based on the fact that light (whether in the form of radio waves, microwaves, visible light, or X-rays) travels with a speed of 300,000 km/sec. Therefore, …

Redshift and Hubble's Law For very far objects (beyond about 1 billion light-years) none of the above methods work. Scientists must move from direct observation to using observations in conjunction …