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How far away are the stars?
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 | | A nearby star will seem to change its position (P1 to P2) when seen from different viewpoints of Earth's orbit (E1 and E2). |
It is tens of millions of millions of miles just to the Sun's neighbours, and most stars are thousands of times farther away than that. Stars at different distances from Earth seem to change position slightly as Earth moves in its orbit. This effect is called parallax. By measuring the amount a star seems to move, astronomers can work out how far away it is.
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Previous:
Back
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Book:
1001
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Section:
Space
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Chapter:
The Universe
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