Stellar parallax measures are given in the tiny units of arcseconds, or even in thousandths of arcseconds ( milliarcseconds ).
12.
The first successful measurements of stellar parallax were made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838 for the star 61 Cygni using a heliometer.
13.
Stellar parallax is so difficult to detect that its existence was the subject of much debate in astronomy for thousands of years.
14.
Additionally, a Copernican system would suggest the ability to observe stellar parallax, which could not be observed until the 19th century.
15.
Based upon an annual stellar parallax shift of 6.56 milliarcseconds, it is located about 500 light years from the Sun.
16.
As a result of his work the knowledge of stellar parallaxes for the southern hemisphere became better known than that of the northern.
17.
From 1899 to 1903, he was an astronomer at Yerkes, where he pioneered the use of photographic methods to determine stellar parallaxes.
18.
The geocentric model, consistent with planetary parallax, was assumed to be an explanation for the unobservability of the parallel phenomenon, stellar parallax.
19.
Since the stellar parallax is usually too small to be measured for many distant stars, this is a common method of determining such distances.
20.
With a good enough telescope, it should also be possible to observe stellar parallax-and you could do this over six months or so.
