14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers operating the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have just released an amazing new image of the nearby Cepheid variable star RS Puppis, which lies in the constellation of the same name, just 6,500 light-years away. The massive star is currently putting on a beautiful light show.
Though it may seem relatively small, RS Puppis is in fact around 10 times heavier than the Sun, 200 times larger, and 1,500 times brighter. The large amounts of light and radiations it releases irradiate the nebula around it, making it shine spectacularly in this new Hubble image.
RS Puppis is known to exhibit increases and decreases in brightness, which occur over a 6-week cycle. Cepheid variable stars like this one are used by astronomers as cosmic candles, reference points for measuring distances to objects and structures located much farther away.
In 2008, the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) New Technology Telescope at La Silla Observatory, in Chile was used to measure the distance to RS Puppis, via a geometric analysis of light reflection patterns within the nebula around the star. The values thus obtained are the most accurate ever derived for any Cepheid variable star.