Parallax

Careful measurement of a celestial object’s position in the sky (astrometry) may be used to determine its distance

Students learn to:

• define the terms parallax, parsec, light-year
• explain how trigonometric parallax can be used to determine the distance to stars
• discuss the limitations of trigonometric parallax measurements

Students:

• solve problems and analyse information to calculate the distance to a star given its trigonometric parallax using: 
• gather and process information to determine the relative limits to trigonometric parallax distance determinations using recent ground-based and space-based telescopes