## mathslover Group Title The nearest star to our solar system is 4.29 light years away. How much is this distance in terms of parsecs? How much parallax would this star (named Alpha Centauri) show when viewed from two locations of the Earth six months apart in its orbit around the Sun? one year ago one year ago

1. mathslover Group Title

OK so I had done the first part but I am confused with the second one. 1.3333... pascal is the answer for 1st part. @hartnn @Algebraic! @sauravshakya

2. mathslover Group Title

@vishweshshrimali5

3. mathslover Group Title

@hartnn any idea?

4. hartnn Group Title

nopes,seen such question for the first time.

5. mathslover Group Title

well I can remind you that it is "parallax method"

6. vishweshshrimali5 Group Title

7. henpen Group Title

$4.26ly=(3*10^8)(365.25*24*60*60)m=9.467*10^{15}m$$1psc=3.09*10^{16}m$ $4.26ly=\frac{9.467*10^{15}}{3.09*10^{16}}psc=0.306psc$

8. mathslover Group Title

$\large{4.29 ly = 9.46*10^{15}m * 4.29 = 40.5834*10^{15} = 4 * 10^{16} m }$ $\large{4.29 ly = \frac{4*10^{16}}{3*10^{16}}=\frac{4}{3}=1.3333...}$

9. mathslover Group Title

$$\large{1ly = 9.46*10^{15}m}$$

10. mathslover Group Title

@henpen You have done a mistake there, you forgot to multiply 4.29 there and you by fault wrote 4.26 ly ..

11. henpen Group Title

Oh yes- just multiply the end result by 4.26

12. henpen Group Title

*.29

13. mathslover Group Title

so the answer is 1.33... ?

14. mathslover Group Title

*1.33... pascal ?

15. henpen Group Title

parsecs

16. mathslover Group Title

lol sorry forgot that but still m i correct with the solution given above?

17. henpen Group Title

Yes. As to the parallax, the earth sun distance *2 is 3*10^11 m, so just use trigonometry to work out the angle change

18. mathslover Group Title

I tried that by applying the formula (parallax formula) : d = b / theta but I was unable to complete it... to the correct answer Can you show your work? or just answer you get so that I can check it with the correct answer... (I am not wanting a direct answer but here I want to check it so please provide your answer )

19. mathslover Group Title

In short : what r u getting after doing that @henpen

20. henpen Group Title

|dw:1348407871723:dw| Multiply by 2 for the change

21. henpen Group Title

Actually, don't multiply by 2|dw:1348408141213:dw|. Take the answer away from 90, and multiply THAT answer by 2.

22. henpen Group Title

2*(90-arctan(8*10^5 /3)) http://web2.0calc.com/

23. henpen Group Title

0.00042971834596

24. henpen Group Title

If parallax is measured in degrees, that is.

25. mathslover Group Title

Yes that is absolutely *correct* @henpen good work

26. mathslover Group Title

Thanks