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from | Encarta |  |
Stellar Parallax |
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| As the earth moves around the sun, distant stars appear to move in the sky. This apparent displacement, known as stellar parallax, is most evident at six-month intervals, when the earth is at opposite ends of its solar orbit. Astronomers use stellar parallax to determine a star’s distance from the earth by studying the angle formed by the actual star and its two parallactic positions (seen here as dotted blue lines). This illustration depicts two examples of stellar parallax. | ||||||
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| Appears in these articles: | ||||||
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| Astronomy, History of; Astronomy; Star (astronomy); Parallax | ||||||
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