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Trigonometric Parallaxes and Their Calibration
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Extract
The precision obtained in equating a very precise linear dimension to a very small and imprecise angular dimension sets a limit on the precision of the distance scale of the Universe. Within the Solar System, errors in distances are of the order of one part in one hundred million, but beyond its limits only a single star, Barnard's star, has a distance known to better than one part in one hundred, and distances known to one part in twenty from parallaxes are limited to only a few hundred nearby stars. Yet most other distance methods and results must ultimately be calibrated against distances to nearby stars derived from the heliocentric parallax method and its observations and uncertainties.
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- 1. Review Papers
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- Copyright © Reidel 1985