Have you ever wondered how astronomers measure the distance to other objects in the universe? How do they make claims that this nebula is 1,500 light years distance or that galaxy is 2.5 million light ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it. When you look at an object that's very distant from you, how well can ...

Over the many years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve rattled off the distances to many celestial objects. I don’t often use miles to express stellar and galactic distances because the numbers would ...

Over the many years I’ve been writing this column, I've rattled off the distances to many celestial objects. I don't often use miles to express stellar and galactic distances, because the numbers ...

n nearly nine years of writing this column, I’ve rattled off distances to many stars and galaxies. The distances are so great that miles are too cumbersome to express them. Light-years do a better job ...

Over the 25 years I’ve written this column, I’ve often marveled at the mind-boggling distances to many celestial objects. Astronomers don’t often use miles to express stellar and galactic distances ...

This is a classic example of parallax (although this is fake parallax). You can create another example of parallax yourself. Hold you thumb out straight in front of your face at arms length. Now close ...

In the nearly 20 years that I’ve enjoyed sharing my love of astronomy with you, I’ve rattled off many, many distances to many stars and galaxies. If we tried to express the distances in miles the ...