Example: Bellatrix (Gamma Orionis), the left shoulder of Orion, lies very close to the galaxy MGC +01-14073. Its ecliptic longitude is 81°, and we want to photograph the star at two times of the year, when the Sun is at the two 90° angles on opposite sides of Bellatrix. In other words, we want to photograph when the Sun's longitude is 171° and again when the Sun's longitude is 351°. Those days happen to be September 13 and March 11.
When we examine those photos very closely, we will find that the position of Bellatrix has shifted by a very small amount against the background of distant galaxies; that shift amounts to 0.0153 arcseconds, and is caused by the Earth's motion around the Sun. Since we know the size of the Earth's orbit, we can compute the distance to Bellatrix very easily: it's just 1 / .0153 parsecs, or 65.4 parsecs. That's 213 light-years.
2006-12-06 15:33:27
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answer #1
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answered by Keith P 7
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Usually to get a really good reading you have to wait 6 months, until the earth is on the other side of the solar system. Parallax measurements are done by measuring how far something moves when you change perpsective, like opening and closing your eyes back and forth--notice how things seem to move? Measure how much they move and you can tell how far away they are.
Try Wikipedia for more...
2006-12-06 12:01:51
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answer #2
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answered by ~XenoFluX 3
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Why are you asking us? And, truly, 'Earth gadgets' pertains to any unit of length in comman utilization interior the worldwide Earth, and so might contain easy years. And astronomical gadgets (approximately the advise distance between the Earth and the sunlight). i'm inspired alongside with your grammar, although. you have even have been given your apostrophes interior the the terrific option places. I advise, different than for the minor reality which you will possibly desire to end record products with a semi-colon, that's totally very nearly spot on. it relatively is a marvel to locate a wisely spelt word around right here.
2016-10-14 04:23:38
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answer #3
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answered by ? 4
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Try looking here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax#Stellar_parallax
2006-12-06 12:03:48
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answer #4
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answered by Gene 7
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yeah
2006-12-06 13:35:15
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answer #5
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answered by sk8er V 2
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