Episode 2 of 2

Publication of Parallax Results

When
1838
Where
Königsberg Observatory
Part of
Friedrich Bessel measures the distance to a star (61 Cygni)

Bessel published his findings in 1838, establishing the first reliable distance scale to stars through trigonometric parallax measurements.

Bessel published his findings in 1838 with a value of 369.0 ±19.1 mas to A and 260.5 ±18.8 to B, and estimated the center point to be at 313.6 ±13.6. These results, along with those of Henderson and Struve, were the first in history to establish the reliable distance scale to the stars.

Sources

  1. Stellar parallax Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-09
  2. 61 Cygni Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.