Standard Candles and Controversy
The use of standard candles to determine large distances in the Universe is
a highly technical issue because there are many things that one has to correct for
or assume
before arriving at a final answer. It should not be too surprising to find that
there are some legitimate disagreements on exactly how to do this.
For example, we have already seen that there has been
controversy over whether Type Ia supernovae are really
standard candles. Such uncertainties are
usually resolved by further observation, but they lead to quantitative uncertainty
until then.