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Baade-Wesselink method

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The Baade-Wesselink method is a method for determining the distance of a Cepheid variable star suggested by Walter Baade in 1926 and further developed by Adriaan Wesselink.[1] The color of the star at various points during its period of variation is used to determine its surface brightness. Then, knowing the apparent magnitude at these points in time the angular diameter can be calculated. Measurements are also taken of the radial velocity using Doppler spectroscopy. This allows one to determine the speed at which the front surface of the star moves toward or away from us at various points in the cycle. Since the difference between this and the average speed is the derivative of the radius, one obtains the variation in radius. Combining this with the change in angular diameter gives the distance.

Reference

  1. ^ Adriaan Wesselink (1946). "The observations of brightness, colour and radial velocity of δ Cephei and the pulsation hypothesis (Errata: 10 258, 310)". Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of the Netherlands. 10: 91–100.