Parallax

:This article is about parallax, the perspective shift. For the DC comic book character see Parallax (comics).

Dynamic or moving-cluster parallax

The open stellar cluster 'Hyades' (Rain Stars) in Taurus extends over such a large part of the sky, 20 degrees, that the proper motions as derived from astrometry appear to converge with some precision to a perspective point north of Orion. Combining the observed apparent (angular) proper motion in seconds of arc with the also observed true (absolute) receding motion as witnessed by the Doppler redshift of the stellar spectral lines, allows us to estimate the distance of the cluster and its member stars in much the same way as using annual parallax.

Related Topics:
Astrometry - Doppler

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Dynamic parallax has sometimes also been used to determine the distance to a supernova, when the optical wave front of the outburst was seen to propagate through the surrounding dust clouds at an apparent angular velocity, when we know its true propagation velocity to be that of the speed of light.

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