Cepheid

Scientific  

/ sē′fē-ĭd,sĕf′ē- /

1. Any of a class of variable stars whose luminosity fluctuates with an extremely regular period. There is a strong correlation between the absolute magnitude of a Cepheid's luminosity and its period. By comparing the apparent magnitude of a Cepheid to the absolute magnitude corresponding to its period, it is possible to determine fairly accurately how distant the Cepheid is from Earth.

2. Also called Cepheid variable

---

Example Sentences

These ladders are built from objects such as supernovae and special stars called Cepheid variable stars.

From Science Daily

Eloisa and her team detected this remarkable motion by carefully studying young giant stars and Cepheid stars, both of which vary in brightness in predictable ways that make them easy for Gaia to observe across large distances.

From Science Daily

She was particularly interested in Cepheid variables, which are stars whose brightness pulses regularly, so they get brighter and dimmer with a particular period.

From Salon

Once you measure a Cepheid’s period, you can calculate its distance from how bright it appears using the inverse square law.

From Salon

Hubble worked hard, taking images of spiral nebulae every clear night and looking for the telltale variations of Cepheid variables.

From Salon