The Period-Luminosity Relationship
• Relationship discovered by
Henrietta Leavitt in 1912
– stars in Small Magellanic Cloud
– all at roughly same distance
– but didn’t have absolute M, just
apparent M
– need absolute M to get distances
• Calibrated by Harlow Shapley
– If you can find distance (so M-m)
for just one nearby Cepheid, you
can convert Leavitt’s “m” scale
to the “M” you want.