Allegheny Observatory Trigonometric Parallax Program

阿勒格尼天文台三角视差计划

• 批准号: 8920797
• 负责人: George Gatewood
• 金额: $ 39万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-05-01 至 1993-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8920797&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Allegheny; Observatory; Trigonometric; Parallax; Program

The Allegheny Observatory trigonometric parallax program utilizes some of the most accurate equipment of its kind to determine very high precision parallaxes and masses for astrophysically interesting objects within 250 parsecs of the Sun. The program has sufficient precision to obtain reliable trigonometric distances of such luminosity standards as nearby star clusters, giant stars, and variable stars; to define portions of the mass-luminosity relationship previously outside of the domain of trigonometric techniques; and to detect low mass orbiting nearby stars. The determination of stellar parallaxes is of fundamental importance to almost all areas of astronomy, since the determination of many physical parameters requires knowledge of distance. The limitation in parallax determination up until quite recently has been the presence in most astrometric systems of systematic errors that limit the true accuracy of the determined distances. All indications are that efforts at the Allegheny Observatory have successfully rectified this problem. The development phase of Dr. Gatewood's program is now complete, and production observing is proceeding.

阿勒格尼天文台的三角视差计划利用一些同类最精确的设备来确定太阳250秒范围内天体物理上感兴趣的物体的非常高精度的视差和质量。该程序具有足够的精度，可以获得附近星团、巨星和变星等光度标准的可靠三角距离；定义以前在三角技术领域之外的部分质量-光度关系；以及探测围绕附近恒星运行的低质量恒星。恒星视差的测定对于天文学的几乎所有领域都是至关重要的，因为许多物理参数的测定都需要知道距离。直到最近，视差测定的局限性一直是在大多数天体测量系统中存在的系统误差，这些误差限制了所确定距离的真实准确性。所有迹象表明，阿勒格尼天文台的努力已经成功地纠正了这个问题。盖特伍德博士项目的开发阶段现在已经完成，生产观察正在进行中。