Question

Suppose you measure the parallax angle for a particular star to be 0.1 arcsecond. The distance to this star is

A) 10 light-years.B) 10 parsecs.C) 0.1 light-year.D) 0.1 parsec.E) impossible to determine.

Answer 1

B) 10 parsecs

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance of a star measured with the parallax method is given by:

`d=(1)/(\theta)`

where

d is the distance, in Parsec

`\theta` is the parallax angle, in arcseconds

For the star in the problem, the parallax angle is

`\theta=0.1''`

therefore, the distance of the star is

`d=(1)/(0.1'')=10 pc`

so, 10 parsecs.