The correct distance from Earth to the nearest galaxy

For the first time in history, scientists have accurately measured the distance from the Earth to the nearest galaxy.

The closest galaxy to Earth is called the Magellanic Big Cloud (LMC) . This is a dwarf galaxy that stretches and revolves around the Milkyway galaxy, slowly - this relationship is similar to the relationship between the Earth and the Moon.

Vivid images of LMC galaxies are observed from
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope - (Photo: Reuters)

Astronomical Dr Grzegorz Pietrzynski and colleagues said the distance between the Earth and LMC dwarf galaxies is 163,000 light years (or 49.97 kiloparsecs).

This measurement is quite accurate with an error of only 2.2%. Previously this distance was measured but with errors of up to 5-10%.

This result could help scientists determine the rate of cosmic expansion - called Hubble's constant. More importantly, this calculation helps to improve the accuracy of Hubble's constant to a level of only 2% errors in the future.

Dr. Pietrzynski said: "In the precise cosmology era, determining the Hubble constant with only less than 3% error is necessary".

Astronomers measure this distance by carefully monitoring the changes in the brightness and the orbital speed of stars. This study used observational materials for 16 years to determine the star pattern with a very long orbital cycle - a perfect model for accurate distance calculations.