An astrophysical investigation of four classical cepheid variable stars

Abstract

Since Leavitt (1912 ) made the extraordinary finding that there was a correlation between the periods and the brightnesses of cepheid variables in the Small Magellanic Cloud, these stars have been an extremely important source of distance information in astronomy . Numerous attempts were made following this discovery to calibrate the period-luminosity law and apply it to problems of galactic structure and extragalactic distances. The intrinsic brightness of these stars together with the fact that they can be observed in external galaxies has made them exceedingly useful in this way. Show more