Note 3 — Chapter XXVII
Reading edition
The diameter of the moon as seen from the earth is equal to one thousand eight hundred and sixty eight seconds of space. When the parallax of a star is ascertained, it is a simple matter to calculate the distance of the star by the use of the following table. If the star shows a displacement of one second in space, or one eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-eighth part of the width of the moon, that star is distant two hundred and six thousand two hundred and sixty-five times the distance of the earth from the sun.
An angle of 1″ is equivalent to 206,265 times 93,000,000 of miles.
“ “ “ 0″.9 “ “ “ 229,183 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.8 “ “ “ 257,830 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.7 “ “ “ 294,664 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.6 “ “ “ 343,750 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.5 “ “ “ 412,530 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.4 “ “ “ 515,660 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.3 “ “ “ 687,500 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.2 “ “ “ 1,031,320 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.1 “ “ “ 2,062,650 “ “ “ “
“ “ “ 0″.0 “ “ “ Immeasurable.
The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, shows a parallax of less than one second (0″.75). The farthest star, the distance of which has been ascertained, is 1830 Groombridge, which shows a parallax of only 0″.045, and is distant 4,583,000 times earth’s distance from the sun, or 426 trillions of miles.