A Ringing Neutron Star Is A Cosmic Milepost

We live in a three-dimensional universe, but we see a two-dimensional sky. Objects both close and far look like lights on the dome of the sky, and there's no reason to think a bright object is closer than a faint one. To take just one example: the closest star to the Solar System is Proxima Centauri, which is invisible without a telescope. We can see galaxies millions of times more distant more easily than our nearest stellar neighbor.