Question

Star A has a parallax of 0.04 seconds of arc. Star B has a parallax of 0.02 seconds of arc. Which star is more distant from the sun? What is the distance to star A from the sun, in parsecs? thanks?

Answer 1

Star B is more distant and its distance from Sun is 50 parsecs or `163` light years.

Explanation:

The relationship between a star's distance and its parallax angle is given by `d = 1/p`, where the distance `d` is measured in parsecs (equal to `3.26` light years) and the parallax angle `p` is measured in arcseconds.

Hence Star A is at a distance of `1/0.04` or `25` parsecs, while Star B is at a distance of `1/0.02` or `50` parsecs.

Hence Star B is more distant and its distance from Sun is 50 parsecs or `163` light years.