Piazzi's Flying Star

Aubrey's right Paul, I'd better check this one out while I can, at the rate it's travelling it'll be in the Southern hemisphere by Christmas. :laugh:

According to my computer, which is the font of all wisdom, Piazzi's star is a "widely separated orange, orange double star with an orbital period of ca 700 years. It is among the nearest stars (the 14th closest and 4th closest of the stars visible to the naked eye), and its rapid movement was noted by Giuseppe Piazzi as early as 1792. This system is famous for being the first to have its distance measured by the technique of parallax. The German astronomer Friedrich Bessel determined its distance to be 10.3 light years; modern measurements give a figure of 11.36. Also has an unseen third component, which has the mass of eight Jupiters."

Mike

It is among the nearest stars (the 14th closest and 4th closest of the stars visible to the naked eye), and its rapid movement was noted by Giuseppe Piazzi as early as 1792. This system is famous for being the first to have its distance measured by the technique of parallax. The German astronomer Friedrich Bessel determined its distance to be 10.3 light years; modern measurements give a figure of 11.36. Also has an unseen third component, which has the mass of eight Jupiters."

I thought everyone knew that.

Paul

I see both those big boys, Piazzi and Bessel are both named on the Moon. I have observed Bessel many times in Mare Serenitatis, but Piazzi can only be observed on the night before Full Moon down in south east corner.
Does anyone else have anymore smart comments?

Aubrey.