![parallax angle parallax angle](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zSnZS.png)
The raw images required some processing to eliminate image artefacts. The camera used by the space mission was the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). The raw images obtained by the New Horizons space probe were downloaded from the website below dedicated to this project: Wolf 359 Star animation with image data acquired from the New Horizons space probeĪnd Insight Observatory's ATEO-1 remote telescope located in New Mexico. Here is the animation which shows a stereo view of this phenomenon. With such a large distance between the two observation points (Earth - New Horizons), the parallax effect is easy to highlight by comparing photos taken from Earth with those received from the New Horizons probe. The advantage of these tandem observations is that the New Horizons probe is 46 times the Earth-Sun distance, which causes the perspective of the probe on the star Wolf 359 to change visibly from the perspective observed on earth. On April 22, 2020, we made observations with the ATEO-1 remote telescope in tandem with the New Horizons space probe at nearby star Wolf 359. Traditionally the distances to Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359 were calculated using this method and resulted in the following data confirmed by the specialized space missions Hiparchos and Gaia: P” is expressed in arcseconds and 1 AU represents an astronomical unit, ie the average Earth-Sun distance. Since the angle p ”is very small (less than one second of arc) we can approximate tg (p”) = p ”and the formula becomes: Tg (p ”) = 1UA / D, from which it follows that: Tg (p ”) = Earth-Sun Distance / Sun-Star Distance This is quantified by the angle p - called the parallax.įor the calculation of the distance, we refer to Figure 1. It involves a change in the apparent position of a star relative to the stars from the background when observed from two different locations. The simplified model of the parallax effect is illustrated in Figure 1. The parallax of a star is the angle through which the radius of the Earth's orbit as seen from the star when it is perpendicular to the Earth-Star direction.
![parallax angle parallax angle](https://iphonea2.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/auroral-belt_2.jpg)
This method remained the standard procedure for calibrating other methods for determining distances in the Universe. Historically, the first determination of the distance to the stars was made by astronomer Friedrich Bessel in 1838 for the star 61 Cygni using the parallax method. This project is aimed to highlight the parallax effect by comparing image frames from the New Horizons space probe combined with frames obtained by ground-based remote telescope ATEO-1 located in New Mexico, USA. Using Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector ( ATEO-1) remote telescope, a Romanian team of amateur astronomers participated in the international project #NHParallax.