In the early 1900s, astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt realized a class of stars called Cepheids pulsate, bright and dim, and every Cepheid that pulsates at the same rate has the same brightness.

1900 年代早期，天文学家 Henrietta Swan Leavitt 发列名为造父变星，它有规律地变亮和变，每个造父变星以相同的速率脉动就会有着相同的亮度。