Happy Birthday to American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (July 4, 1868 - Dec 12, 1921), who discovered the relationship between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variables (pulsating stars) which allowed calculation of celestial distances and vastly expanded our understanding of the size of the Universe.
Check out the thread at
https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/112730752792756072
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AkaSci 🛰️@AkaSci@fosstodon.orgHappy Birthday to American astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (born July 4, 1868, Lancaster, MA, died Dec 12, 1921, Cambridge, MA), who discovered the relationship between the luminosity and the period of Cepheid variables - pulsating stars that vary in brightness in precise periods ranging from a few days to several months.
The period–luminosity relationship, now known as "Leavitt's law," led to methods to calculate vast celestial distances.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Swan_Leavitt
#Leavitt
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