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Science 10 September 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5434, pp. 1658 - 1661
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5434.1658
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ASTRONOMY:
The First Step to Heaven

James Glanz

Every effort to survey cosmic distances relies on a common yardstick, found in our own neighborhood, namely the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy hovering on the outskirts of the Milky Way. But astronomers can't agree on how far away it is, and because cosmic distances are critical to calculating the age and expansion rate of the entire universe, that uncertainty has enormous consequences. At least 10 different indicators have been applied to the problem, and the results are all over the map.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)