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Parallax Distance

Distance in parsecs from parallax angle in arcseconds.

Formula

d=1pd = \frac{1}{p}

Variables

pParallax angle (arcsec)
dDistance (parsecs)

Example

A star with 0.1 arcsec of parallax lies d = 1/0.1 = 10 parsecs away.

Did You Know?

Parallax — a star's tiny apparent shift over a year — gives the first rung of the cosmic distance ladder.

distanceparallaxstars