Advancing the Physics of Cosmic Distances Proceedings of the 289th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Beijing, China, August 27-31, 2012 - Proceedings of the International Astronomicl Union

Knowing an astrophysical object's distance is key to understanding it. IAU Symposium 289 brought together experts on distance determinations and, importantly, the underlying physics enabling it, covering scales from the solar neighbourhood to the edge of the Universe. It explores how various methods are employed to define the milestones deeper into space, from trigonometry to applications based on general relativistic effects and even more exotic techniques. The contributors to this volume emphasise the physical bases of the methods and recent advances made to further our physical insights. The volume provides a snapshot of the field of distance measurement, offering not only up-to-date results and a cutting-edge account of recent progress, but also full discussion of the pitfalls encountered and the uncertainties that remain. This Symposium is especially timely, as we look forward to the era of high-precision astrometry data from Gaia and very long baseline interferometers on the ground.