Where Are Cepheids Located?
Cepheids Are Reasonably Abundant and Very Bright. Astronomers Can Identify Them Not Only in Our Galaxy, but in Other Nearby Galaxies as Well. If One Requires...
Cepheids are reasonably abundant and very bright. Astronomers can identify them not only in our Galaxy, but in other nearby galaxies as well. If one requires the distance to a given galaxy one first locates the Cepheid variables in this galaxy. From these observations one determines the period of each of these stars.
Where are Cepheids found?
The classical Cepheids have periods from about 1.5 days to more than 50 days and belong to the class of relatively young stars found largely in the spiral arms of galaxies and called Population I. Population II Cepheids are much older, less luminous, and less massive than their Population I counterparts.
How many Cepheids are there?
More than 400 Cepheids are known in the Galaxy and about 1000 Cepheids have been found in each of the two nearest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, as well as substantial numbers in other nearby galaxies.
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