Standard Candle Comparison

Classical Mechanics Level 3

Cepheid Variable stars and Type 1a supernovae are both standard candles - objects of known luminosity used to estimate interstellar distances. Cepheid Variable stars have luminosities of around 100,000 times the luminosity of the sun, and can be viewed out to a distance of around 30 Megaparsecs. Type 1a supernovae have luminosities of approximately \(5\times 10^9\) times the luminosity of the sun.

Approximately how far away can we observe type 1a supernovae, in Megaparsecs?

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