NATS 1745 Study Guide - Final Guide: Stellar Parallax, Apparent Magnitude, Solar Mass
28 Nov 2014
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The further the star -> the smaller the parallax the harder. By increasing our baseline-> the distance between our observation points. the longer it is, the greater the parallax shift we induce in an object. That effect of the baseline on parallax is the source of the problem. There is a limit as to how big of a baseline we can achieve on earth. The distance to a star can be derived from its parallax shift due to earth"s motion around the sun. Since parallax decreases with distance and since our baseline is limited, parallax distances can only be measured for nearby stars: the incorrect assumption that the brightest stars are the nearest stars. An assumption that stars are fixed to space- they do not move. All the motion could be attributed to the earth"s motion. Halley found 3 stars whos coordinates had moved. > the change of the coordinates could be due to earth;s perception or the parallax.
