Question

ose you have a telescope capable of measuring parallax shifts of a particular amount (for example, 0.001 arcsecond). Which of the following locations for the telescope would allow you to measure distances to the most distant stars? View Available Hint(s) As discussed in the video, parallax measurements allow us to calculate distances to stars for which parallax is detectable. Suppose you have a telescope capable of measuring parallax shifts of a particular amount (for example, 0.001 arcsecond). Which of the following locations for the telescope would allow you to measure distances to the most distant stars? a telescope on a clear mountaintop on Earth a telescope on the Moon a telescope on Mars a telescope placed on the same orbit of the Sun as Earth, but on the opposite side of the Sun a telescope orbiting Earth the location would not affect the maximum distance to which the telescope could detect parallax

Answer 1

Answer:

a telescope on Mars

Explanation:

As you can see in the parallax diagram in the video or your textbook, the base of the parallax triangle is the Earth-Sun distance, and making this baseline distance larger would increase the parallax angle to any star, making the angle easier to measure. Of the choices given, only locating the telescope on Mars would make this baseline distance larger. Therefore, the telescope on Mars would be able to measure parallax for more distant stars than it would in any of the other locations.