Answer to Question #202899 in Astronomy | Astrophysics for Prachi

Question

Express the distances of the stars Sirius A and Antares from the Earth in light years.

Answer 1

According to SIMBAD database (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=sirius+&submit=SIMBAD+search), the parallax of Sirius is 379.21 mas, so the distance is

$\dfrac{1}{0.37921} = 2.64$ pc. 1 parsec is approximately equal to 3.26 light years, so the distance to Sirius A is 8.6 light years.

According to SIMBAD database (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=antares+&submit=SIMBAD+search), the parallax of Antares is 5.89 mas, so the distance is $\dfrac{1}{0.00589} = 169.8$ pc or 553.5 light years.