distant-traveller:

Measuring the universe more accurately than ever before

After nearly a decade of careful observations an international team of astronomers has measured the distance to our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate.

Astronomers survey the scale of the Universe by first measuring the distances to close-by objects and then using them as standard candles to pin down distances further and further out into the cosmos. But this chain is only as accurate as its weakest link. Up to now finding an accurate distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way, has proved elusive. As stars in this galaxy are used to fix the distance scale for more remote galaxies, it is crucially important.

But careful observations of a rare class of double star have now allowed a team of astronomers to deduce a much more precise value for the LMC distance: 163 000 light-years.

The improvement in the measurement of the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud also gives better distances for many Cepheid variable stars. These bright pulsating stars are used as standard candles to measure distances out to more remote galaxies and to determine the expansion rate of the Universe — the Hubble Constant. This in turn is the basis for surveying the Universe out to the most distant galaxies that can be seen with current telescopes. So the more accurate distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud immediately reduces the inaccuracy in current measurements of cosmological distances.

The astronomers worked out the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud by observing rare close pairs of stars, known as eclipsing binaries. As these stars orbit each other they pass in front of each other. When this happens, as seen from Earth, the total brightness drops, both when one star passes in front of the other and, by a different amount, when it passes behind.

By tracking these changes in brightness very carefully, and also measuring the stars’ orbital speeds, it is possible to work out how big the stars are, their masses and other information about their orbits. When this is combined with careful measurements of the total brightness and colours of the stars remarkably accurate distances can be found.

Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Source: distant-traveller

vintagebooksdesign:

VINTAGE MURAKAMI

Murakami’s new backlist design uses the circle as a central motif and the palette is limited to red, black and off-white. This creates a strong and consistent identity for the set. 

Murakami’s work has a sense that something has been lost or hidden, what is real and what is not. To match this playfulness for the covers, we commissioned Noma Bar, a talented Israeli-born and London-based illustrator. His powerful graphic illustrations cleverly utilise negative space concealing secondary images and illusions. Noma’s illustrations were screenprinted by hand to give them a personal and softer edge.

Noma Bar is represented by Dutch Uncle and can be found here.

Covers Illustrated by Noma Bar (except Birthday Stories and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman).

Source: vintagebooksdesign

(via branoff)

Source: the60sbazaar

hina enjoying an early morning sunbath

[source gray wolf conservation]

strvct . 3d printed shoe by continuum fashion

[source design boom]