Cepheids in the Solar Neighborhood (IMAGE) ESO Caption Artist's impression of the local neighbourhood of the Sun and its setting within our galaxy, the Milky Way (see insert above). The figure shows the positions of some bright stars (in white) in the sky as well as the eight Cepheids used in the investigation (in blue). After the rotation of the Milky Way had been accounted for (red arrow), it seemed that the Cepheids were all "falling" towards the Sun (blue arrows; these are not to scale: in reality the blue velocities are typically a factor one hundred smaller than the velocity around the Milky Way). New, very precise measurements with the HARPS instrument have shown that this apparent "fall" is due to effects within the Cepheids themselves and is not related to the way the Milky Way rotates. The motion indicated by the blue arrows is thus an illusion. The scale of the image is given in light-years (ly). Credit ESO Usage Restrictions All ESO still and motion pictures are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. These images and videos may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee, on the following conditions: * ESO must be clearly credited as the source of the image material; * ESO materials, images an videos may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by ESO or any ESO employee of a commercial product, process or service; * ESO disclaims any and all liability arising from the use of the image material. The user shall undertake to hold ESO harmless against any and all such claims; * If an image includes an identifiable person, using that image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy, and separate permission should be obtained from the individual; * This general permission does not extend to use of the ESO's Emblem, which shall remain protected and may not be used or reproduced without prior and individual written consent of ESO. Owners of external websites wishing to link to the ESO web site may use ESO's Emblem for the link, provided they have obtained prior authorisation from the ESO Public Affairs Department and on the condition that such use is clearly identifiable as a web link; * By reproducing ESO still images or broadcasting or copying ESO motion pictures, in part or in full, the user acknowledges the terms on which such use is permitted. We request a copy of the products sent to us to be indexed in our archive. The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is an intergovernmental organisation having its Headquarters in Germany. As an international organisation ESO has a legal personality of international law and enjoys certain privileges and immunities. License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.