Question

If the star Alpha Centauri were moved to a distance 10 times farther than it is now, its parallax angle would

A. get largerB. get smallerC. stay the same

Answer 1

B. get smaller

Step-by-step explanation:

The parallax angle of a star measured with respect to the Earth is inversely proportional to the distance of the star from the Earth:

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

where

`\theta` is the parallax angle, measured in arcsec

d is the distance between the star and the Earth, measured in parsec

Therefore, if the star Alpha Centauri is moved farther from Earth, then d increases, and therefore the parallax angle will get smaller.