Question

1. what is the distance to a star, in parsecs, if its measured parallax (p) is 1/30 (0.033) of an arc second (use equation below)? what is its distance in light - years? show your work! dist (in pc) = 1 / parallax (in arc sec) to convert to light years (ly), multiply your answer in pc by 3.26

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate distance in parsecs

The formula for distance (in pc) is $distance (pc)=\frac{1}{parallax (in\ arc\ sec)}$. Given parallax $p = 0.033$ arc - sec. So, $distance (pc)=\frac{1}{0.033}\approx30.3$ pc.

Step2: Convert distance to light - years

To convert from parsecs to light - years, we use the conversion factor: multiply the distance in parsecs by 3.26. So, $distance (ly)=30.3\times3.26 = 98.778$ ly.

Answer:

The distance in parsecs is approximately 30.3 pc and the distance in light - years is approximately 98.8 ly.