Abstract
THE determination of stellar distances is fundamental to the investigation of the sidereal universe. When once the distance of a star is known, we can calculate its transverse speed in kilometres a second from its proper motion in seconds of arc per century, and we can determine its absolute brightness from its apparent brightness. For binary stars at known distances we can determine the separation of the components in kilometres, and this, together with the period, enables us to compute the mass of the system. Recent work at Mount Wilson has shown that it is practicable to determine the angular diameter of the larger stars, and for such stars a knowledge of the parallax will enable us to compute the linear diameter. Many of the investigations about the sidereal universe made during the last twenty years have been possible only through the increase in the number of stars the distances of which are known with reasonable accuracy, and the results obtained have been of such importance that in an increasing degree the energy of astronomers is being directed to supply the required data.
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JACKSON, J. Stellar Parallax. Nature 108, 124–127 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/108124a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/108124a0