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**Buyingtime** · 08-03-2012, 06:08 AM

> the star is located 314.4 light-years away with an uncertainty of about 2.2 light-years

That's an extremely small uncertainty for such a large distance. For the Hipparcos catalogue, a 10% error in distance is considered good. See Table 3.2 here for instance. http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/uni...de/mwg_err.php. Spica is 262 light years with an uncertainty range of 37 light years. The distance to Betelgeuse is known much less accurately than that.

08-03-2012, 06:08 AM	#2
Buyingtime Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 557 Senior Member	> the star is located 314.4 light-years away with an uncertainty of about 2.2 light-years That's an extremely small uncertainty for such a large distance. For the Hipparcos catalogue, a 10% error in distance is considered good. See Table 3.2 here for instance. http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/uni...de/mwg_err.php. Spica is 262 light years with an uncertainty range of 37 light years. The distance to Betelgeuse is known much less accurately than that.
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