Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am testing stellar parallax theory. There is a lot of information about the theory, but not HOW to test it. Can anyone tell me HOW to go about testing this? I have a telescope, graph paper, objects. How far apart are the objects? How far do you place the telescope? What do you do?

If there is a website that tells how to do this, I'd love to go there. I've read others' abstracts about generally how to do it, but no specifics and I need the specifics in order to test it!

Thanks!

Hi there,

Check out this link on the Science Buddies website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... ?from=Home

Also, here are a couple of other sites that have details about methods:

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1505.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax

Hope this helps!

Mary

Stellar parallax is easy to explain but slow to demonstrate. To use the earth's position in its orbit to the best advantage requires two measurements six months apart. This is fine if you have the time.

A better way to demonstrate stellar parallax it is to model it using terestal parallax with photography. Take a picture of a close object with distant objects in the background. Move the camera sidewise and take a second picture. Explain how and why the near object appears in a different place relative to the distant objects behind it. Then relate that to the earth's motion relative to stars that are near and far from the earth and how the star's apparent position shifts. Note that the shift is very very small.

Robert Reavis