IB Physics SL E 5 6 Stellar Parallax Questions

Use SL stellar parallax and magnitude evidence to determine when a star’s distance can be measured from its apparent annual shift.

Exam points

explain stellar parallax as the apparent positional shift caused by observing a nearby star from different points in Earth’s orbit
use parallax angle and d=1/p with angle in arcseconds to determine distance in parsecs
use apparent and absolute magnitude evidence to judge whether a star is close enough for reliable parallax measurement

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The graph shows an incomplete Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. The position of the Sun and three other stars, A, B and C , are shown.

$M_{\odot}, R_{\odot}$ and $L_{\odot}$ are the mass, radius and luminosity of the Sun.

Suggest whether the method of stellar parallax can be used to measure the distance to star C.

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