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21 - Trigonometric parallaxes

from Part IV - From detected photons to the celestial sphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

By
G. Fritz Benedict  and
Barbara E. McArthur
Edited by
William F. van Altena
G. Fritz Benedict
Affiliation:
University of Texas Austin
Barbara E. McArthur
Affiliation:
University of Texas Austin
William F. van Altena
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

Introduction

One consequence of observing from a moving platform is that all objects exhibit parallax. The measurement of parallax yields distance, a quantity useful in astrophysics. In particular, with distance we can determine the absolute magnitude of any object, a primary parameter in two of the most useful “maps” in astronomy: the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (e.g. Perryman et al. 1997, Fig. 3), showing the relation between absolute magnitude (luminosity) and color (temperature); and the mass–luminosity relation (e.g. Henry 2004, Fig. 3), a tool for turning luminosity into mass, a stellar attribute which determines the past and future aging process for any star. Another example of the utility of absolute magnitudes is the Cepheid period–luminosity relation (PLR). The example used here to illustrate parallax determination had improving that relationship as its ultimate goal.

The technology used to generate parallaxes has proceeded from naked-eye measurements with mechanical micrometers (Bessel 1838), through hand measurements of photographic plates (Booth and Schlesinger 1922), through computer-controlled plate scanners (Auer and van Altena 1978), through computer-controlled CCD cameras (Henry et al. 2006, Harris et al. 2007), through the triumph of the Hipparcos astrometric satellite (Perryman et al. 1997), to space-borne optical interferometers (Benedict et al. 2007, 2009) and extremely long baseline radio interferometers (Reid et al. 2009). Each stage of this historical sequence is characterized by improvements in both the centering of the images of the target and reference stars and the mathematical challenge in distilling the final parallax from those centers.

Type
Chapter
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Astrometry for Astrophysics
Methods, Models, and Applications
 , pp. 309 - 322
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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