Measurements articles
What units are used in space?
Measuring the cosmos requires a different kind of yardstick than the one we use to measure a room or drive across a stat...
What do astronomers use to measure star masses in binary star systems?
Determining the mass of a star is one of the most fundamental tasks in astrophysics, and for the vast majority of stars,...
How are galaxies measured?
Determining the distance to a galaxy millions or even billions of light-years away is one of the greatest intellectual a...
Why is measuring the luminosity of stars difficult?
The light that reaches our telescopes or eyes from a distant star is a convoluted signal, carrying the fingerprint of it...
Why is the proper motion of a distant star difficult to measure?
The challenge of accurately charting the true motion of a star located millions or billions of light-years away stems fr...
How do you measure the mass of a galaxy?
Weighing something as enormous and distant as a galaxy requires a clever application of the laws of physics, relying ent...
What unit of measurement do astronomers use?
The reason astronomers rarely speak about cosmic measurements in familiar terms like miles or kilometers quickly becomes...
What is the largest unit of measurement in astronomy?
The sheer size of the cosmos renders our everyday measurements completely inadequate when we try to map out the universe...
What unit is used to measure planets?
The vastness of space presents an immediate challenge when we try to describe the positions of celestial bodies. Trying ...
How do astronomers measure the size of planets?
Determining the physical dimensions of a planet, whether it orbits our Sun or a star light-years away, requires more tha...
How are exoplanets measured?
Determining the properties of worlds orbiting stars light-years away is one of astronomy’s most impressive achievements....