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Spectroscopic Parallax
Spectroscopic parallax or main sequence fitting is an astronomical method for measuring the distances to stars. Despite its name, it does not rely on the geometric parallax effect. The spectroscopic parallax technique can be applied to any main sequence star for which a spectrum can be recorded. The method depends on the star being sufficiently bright to provide a measurable spectrum, which as of 2013 limits its range to about 10,000 parsecs. To apply this method, one must measure the apparent magnitude of the star and know the spectral type of the star. The spectral type can be determined by observing the star's spectrum. If the star lies on the main sequence, as determined by its luminosity class, the spectral type of the star provides a good estimate of the star's absolute magnitude. Knowing the apparent magnitude (m) and absolute magnitude (M) of the star, one can calculate the distance (d, in parsecs) of the star using m - M = 5 \log (d/10) (see distance modulus). The true d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallax
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects show a larger parallax than farther objects when observed from different positions, so parallax can be used to determine distances. To measure large distances, such as the distance of a planet or a star from Earth, astronomers use the principle of parallax. Here, the term ''parallax'' is the semi-angle of inclination between two sight-lines to the star, as observed when Earth is on opposite sides of the Sun in its orbit. These distances form the lowest rung of what is called "the cosmic distance ladder", the first in a succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects, serving as a basis for other distance measurements in astronomy forming the higher rungs of the ladder. Parallax also affects optical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trigonometric Parallax
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphical), foreshortening, nearby objects show a larger parallax than farther objects when observed from different positions, so parallax can be used to determine distances. To measure large distances, such as the distance of a planet or a star from Earth, astronomers use the principle of parallax. Here, the term ''parallax'' is the semi-angle of inclination between two sight-lines to the star, as observed when Earth is on opposite sides of the Sun in its orbit. These distances form the lowest rung of what is called "the cosmic distance ladder", the first in a succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects, serving as a basis for other distance measurements in astronomy forming the higher rungs of the lad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distance Modulus
The distance modulus is a way of expressing distances that is often used in astronomy. It describes distances on a logarithmic scale based on the astronomical magnitude system. Definition The distance modulus \mu=m-M is the difference between the apparent magnitude m (ideally, corrected from the effects of interstellar absorption) and the absolute magnitude M of an astronomical object. It is related to the distance d in parsecs by: :\log_(d) = 1 + \frac :\mu=5\log_(d)-5 This definition is convenient because the observed brightness of a light source is related to its distance by the inverse square law (a source twice as far away appears one quarter as bright) and because brightnesses are usually expressed not directly, but in magnitudes. Absolute magnitude M is defined as the apparent magnitude of an object when seen at a distance of 10 parsecs. Suppose a light source has luminosity L(d) when observed from a distance of d parsecs, and luminosity L(10) when observed from a dist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynamical Parallax
In astronomy, the distance to a visual binary star may be estimated from the masses of its two components, the size of their orbit, and the period of their orbit about one another. A dynamical parallax is an (annual) parallax which is computed from such an estimated distance. To calculate a dynamical parallax, the angular semi-major axis of the orbit of the stars is observed, as is their apparent brightness. By using Newton's generalisation of Kepler's Third Law, which states that the total mass of a binary system multiplied by the square of its orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semi-major axis, together with the mass–luminosity relation, the distance to the binary star can then be determined. University of Tennessee, Astronomy 162: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology, lectur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photometric Parallax Method
Photometric parallax is a means to infer the distances of stars using their colours and apparent brightnesses. It was used by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to discover the Virgo super star cluster. Assuming that a star is on the main sequence, the star's absolute magnitude can be determined based on its color. Once the absolute and apparent magnitudes are known, the distance to the star can be determined by using the distance modulus. It does not actually employ any measurements of parallax and can be considered a misnomer. Unlike the stellar parallax method, the photometric parallax method can be used to estimate the distances of stars over 10 kpc away, at the expense of much more limited accuracy for individual measurements. See also *Parallax in astronomy *Spectroscopic parallax *Dynamical parallax In astronomy, the distance to a visual binary star may be estimated from the masses of its two components, the size of their orbit, and the period of their orbit about one another ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmic Distance Ladder
The cosmic distance ladder (also known as the extragalactic distance scale) is the succession of methods by which astronomers determine the distances to celestial objects. A ''direct'' distance measurement of an astronomical object is possible only for those objects that are "close enough" (within about a thousand parsecs) to Earth. The techniques for determining distances to more distant objects are all based on various measured correlations between methods that work at close distances and methods that work at larger distances. Several methods rely on a standard candle, which is an astronomical object that has a known luminosity. The ladder analogy arises because no single technique can measure distances at all ranges encountered in astronomy. Instead, one method can be used to measure nearby distances, a second can be used to measure nearby to intermediate distances, and so on. Each rung of the ladder provides information that can be used to determine the distances at the next ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Arnold Kohlschütter
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) South African Film Producer * Alice Henson Ernst (1880-1980), American writer and historian * Britta Ernst (born 1961), German politician * Cornelia Ernst, German politician * Edzard Ernst, German-British Professor of Complementary Medicine * Emil Ernst, astronomer * Ernie Ernst (1924/25–2013), former District Judge in Walker County, Texas * Eugen Ernst (1864–1954), German politician * Fabian Ernst, German soccer player * Gustav Ernst, Austrian writer * Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, Moravian violinist and composer * Jim Ernst, Canadian politician * Jimmy Ernst, American painter, son of Max Ernst * Joni Ernst, U.S. Senator from Iowa * K.S. Ernst, American visual poet * Karl Friedrich Paul Ernst, German writer (1866–1933) * Ken Ernst, U.S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Sydney Adams
Walter Sydney Adams (December 20, 1876 – May 11, 1956) was an American astronomer. Life and work Adams was born in Antioch, Turkey, to Lucien Harper Adams and Nancy Dorrance Francis Adams, missionary parents, and was brought to the U.S. in 1885 He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1898, then continued his education in Chicago and in Germany. After returning to the U.S., he began a career in Astronomy that culminated when he became director of the Mount Wilson Observatory. His primary interest was the study of stellar spectra. He worked on solar spectroscopy and co-discovered a relationship between the relative intensities of certain spectral lines and the absolute magnitude of a star. He was able to demonstrate that spectra could be used to determine whether a star was a giant or a dwarf. In 1915 he began a study of the companion of Sirius and found that despite a size only slightly larger than the Earth, the surface of the star was brighter per unit area than the Sun and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interstellar Extinction
In astronomy, extinction is the absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation by dust and gas between an emitting astronomical object and the observer. Interstellar extinction was first documented as such in 1930 by Robert Julius Trumpler. However, its effects had been noted in 1847 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, and its effect on the colors of stars had been observed by a number of individuals who did not connect it with the general presence of galactic dust. For stars that lie near the plane of the Milky Way and are within a few thousand parsecs of the Earth, extinction in the visual band of frequencies (photometric system) is roughly 1.8 magnitudes per kiloparsec. For Earth-bound observers, extinction arises both from the interstellar medium (ISM) and the Earth's atmosphere; it may also arise from circumstellar dust around an observed object. Strong extinction in earth's atmosphere of some wavelength regions (such as X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared) i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
