Definition of cepheid in English:
cepheid
(also cepheid variable)
nounˈsɛːfɪɪdˈsiːfɪɪdˈsef-
Astronomy A variable star having a regular cycle of brightness with a frequency related to its luminosity, so allowing estimation of its distance from the earth.
Example sentencesExamples
- Several hundred cepheid variables are known in our Galaxy.
- Shapley also pointed out in that paper that the noted increase in the distance of the clouds explains the ‘failure of the persistent Harvard searches for cluster-type cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds and their globular clusters.’
- The size and age of the expanding Universe is calculated by astronomers on the basis of winking stars called cepheids, the nearest of which is 1000-2000 light years away.
- Using this, astronomers only needed to know the period of a cepheid variable to figure out how bright, and therefore how far away it was.
- Type I cepheids are most closely associated with the thin disc and the spiral arm components of the Galaxy.
Origin
Early 20th century: from the name of the variable star Delta Cephei, which typifies this class of stars.