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A parsec is the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object that has a parallax angle of one arcsecond (not to scale). The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (AU), i.e. 30.9 trillion kilometres (19.2 trillion miles).
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. [1] [2] Due to foreshortening, nearby objects show a larger parallax than farther objects, so parallax can be used to determine distances.
Stellar parallax is so difficult to detect that its existence was the subject of much debate in astronomy for hundreds of years. Thomas Henderson , Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve , and Friedrich Bessel made the first successful parallax measurements in 1832–1838, for the stars Alpha Centauri , Vega , and 61 Cygni .
The lower diagram shows the equal angle swept by the Sun in a geostatic model. A similar diagram can be drawn for a star except that the angle of parallax would be minuscule. The most important fundamental distance measurements in astronomy come from trigonometric parallax, as applied in the stellar parallax method. As the Earth orbits the Sun ...
Aberration is distinct from parallax, which is a change in the apparent position of a relatively nearby object, as measured by a moving observer, relative to more distant objects that define a reference frame. The amount of parallax depends on the distance of the object from the observer, whereas aberration does not.
Figure 1. Definition of binocular disparity (far and near). Human eyes are horizontally separated by about 50–75 mm (interpupillary distance) depending on each individual. Thus, each eye has a slightly different view of the world around. This can be easily seen when alternately closing one eye while looking at a vertical edge.
Distance moduli are most commonly used when expressing the distance to other galaxies in the relatively nearby universe.For example, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is at a distance modulus of 18.5, [2] the Andromeda Galaxy's distance modulus is 24.4, [3] and the galaxy NGC 4548 in the Virgo Cluster has a DM of 31.0. [4]
No parallax is measured, the word is simply used to place emphasis on the fact that the distance is being estimated. In this method, the luminosity of a star is estimated from its spectrum. It is important to note that the spectra from distant stars of a given type are assumed to be the same as the spectra of nearby stars of the same type.