3
QuizMultiple Choice

The Cosmic Distance Ladder — Quiz

Question 3 • Earth and Space Science

Why is the technique of measuring geometric parallax only effective for measuring distances that are less than a few hundred parsecs?

Answer
A
Astronomers cannot observe stars that are more than a few hundred parsecs away.
B
Stars that are very far away do not appear to move relative to distant background stars as the Earth completes its orbit.
C
The mathematical relationship between distance and geometric parallax angle is only true for stars that are less than a few hundred parsecs away.
D
The geometric parallax measurement technique depends on measures of luminosity, which can be unreliable for stars located closer to Earth.

Explanation

Geometric parallax measures a star’s apparent shift against distant background stars as Earth moves around the Sun. The farther away the star is, the smaller that apparent shift becomes, making it difficult to distinguish from measurement limits at large distances. So stars more than a few hundred parsecs away show too little apparent motion for this method to measure reliably. The correct choice is B, not A: distant stars can be observed, but their parallax is extremely small.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.

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