Astronomy and the Bible;

CELESTIALMAGNITUDES 109

wereanywherewithin 160,000timesthelengthofour
baseHne,or1,280,000,000miles,weshouldhavebeen
abletodetectamovement. Thereforethestarismore
than one billion twohundred and eightymillions of
milesaway;buthow muchoutside ofthis, wehave
noideauntilwehavemadeothercalculations.
Toassistustounderstandhow smallmustbethe
stellarparallax,wehavebuttoconsiderthattheparal-
laxofthemoon is 57';Venusand Mars, 40"; and
thesun,only8.8".
Butcanwegetnolongerbaselinethanthis eight
thousandmiles? Wehave made oneobservation on
onesideoftheearth,andanotherontheoppositeside
oftheearth,andthesetwopointsareeightthousand
milesapart. Can wefindalongerbaseline?—Yes.
Wemaymake anobservation ata given date, wait
justhalfayeartilltheearthhascarriedushalfaround
herorbittoaspotinspaceprecisely oppositetoour
firstobservation,andherewemaytakeasecond. Our
baselinenowis astraightlinethrough space,inter-
sectedatitscenterbythesun,andhencemeasuresin
lengthtwicethedistancefromearthtosun,orabout
onehundred and eighty-five millions of miles. We
nowhaveabaselinemorethantwenty-threethousand
timesaslongasbefore. Surelywithsucha change
inourposition,weshallbeabletodetectanapparent
movementofthestar.
Butevenwiththisimmensebaseline, men sought
for years to find the parallax, before they were at
lengthsuccessful. "Theeffortstoobtainthedistance
ofthestarshadbeenunavailing. ...Anegativesolu-