The MOST accurate stellar parallax measurements for distances to the majority of stars in our neighborhood of the universe have been made by:
A) the Hubble Space Telescope.
B) Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, in 1838; no measurements since then have matched the precision of his measurements.
C) the Hipparcos satellite.
D) the Very Long Baseline Array of radio telescopes.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Hipparcos satellite, launched by the European Space Agency in 1989, made the most accurate stellar parallax measurements to date for over 100,000 stars. While Bessel's measurements in 1838 were groundbreaking for their time, modern technology has surpassed his precision. The Hubble Space Telescope has also contributed to our understanding of stellar distances, but it is better suited for observing very distant objects rather than those in our immediate neighborhood. The Very Long Baseline Array is a radio telescope system and not designed for parallax measurements.

The MOST Accurate Stellar Parallax Measurements for Distances to the Majority