Standard Candle
In space and astronautical engineering, a standard candle is a type of astronomical object that has a known luminosity. By measuring the apparent brightness of the object, astronomers can determine its distance from Earth. This method is particularly useful for measuring distances to objects that are too far away for other methods, such as parallax, to be effective. Standard candles include certain types of stars, such as Cepheid variables and Type Ia supernovae, as well as other astronomical phenomena, such as gamma-ray bursts. The use of standard candles has been instrumental in determining the scale of the universe and the rate of its expansion.
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