Unread post by simonshack » Sat May 05, 2018 12:08 am

HOW "NEGATIVE" STELLAR PARALLAXES WERE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG

can indeed be either positive or negative - or zero

EXPECT

That is, 25% positive, 25% negative - and 50% zero (no measurable parallax at all)

"[Bessel] is credited with being the first to use parallax in calculating the distance to a star. Astronomers had believed for some time that parallax would provide the first accurate measurement of interstellar distances — in fact, in the 1830s there was a fierce competition between astronomers to be the first to measure a stellar parallax accurately. In 1838 Bessel won the race, announcing that 61 Cygni had a parallax of 0.314 arcseconds."

"For, in many cases, some of the greatest names have differed even as to the direction of the motion of particular stars : one making it positive whilst in the same star another considers it as negative ."

(Francis Baily was a major figure in the early history of the Royal Astronomical Society, as one of the founders and president four times.)

footnote

the very existence

no

"somewhat more than half"

"more than half"

negative

Washburn observatory's

"a large proportion"

negative

"somewhat more than half"

positive

negative

ESA'S "HIPPARCOS" DATA

The HIPPARCOS satellite ... as depicted at the nasa.gov website

microscopic

"Observationally, the objective was to provide the positions, parallaxes, and annual proper motions for some 100,000 stars with an unprecedented accuracy of 0.002 arcseconds, a target in practice eventually surpassed by a factor of two."

"more accurate than the larger TYCHO catalogue".

A must read

"KAPTEYN'S UNIVERSE" - and its subsequent "destruction"

in two distinct and diametrically opposed directions





He used RR Lyrae stars to correctly estimate the size of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sun's position within it by using parallax.

(...)

Shapley was born on a farm in Nashville, Missouri, to Willis and Sarah (née Stowell) Shapley, and dropped out of school with only the equivalent of a fifth-grade education . After studying at home and covering crime stories as a newspaper reporter, Shapley returned to complete a six-year high school program in only two years, graduating as class valedictorian.



In 1907, Shapley went to study journalism at the University of Missouri. When he learned that the opening of the School of Journalism had been postponed for a year, he decided to study the first subject he came across in the course directory. Rejecting Archaeology, which Shapley later explained he couldn't pronounce, he chose the next subject, Astronomy."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_Shapley Harlow Shapley (November 2, 1885 – October 20, 1972) was a 20th-century American scientist, head of the Harvard College Observatory (1921–1952), and political activist during the latter New Deal and Fair Deal.He used RR Lyrae stars to correctly estimate the size of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Sun's position within it by using parallax.(...)Shapley was born on a farm in Nashville, Missouri, to Willis and Sarah (née Stowell) Shapley, and. After studying at home andShapley returned to complete a six-year high school program in only two years, graduating as class valedictorian.In 1907, Shapley went to studyat the University of Missouri. When he learned that the opening of the School of Journalism had been postponed for a year, he decided to study the first subject he came across in the course directory. Rejecting Archaeology, which Shapley later explained he couldn't pronounce, he chose the next subject, Astronomy."

Caption: "Members of the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt visit FDR at the White House (October 1944).

From left: Van Wyck Brooks, Hannah Dorner, Jo Davidson, Jan Kiepura, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Gish, Dr. Harlow Shapley"