What is the key difference between stellar parallax and spectroscopic parallax?

Answer

Stellar parallax is a direct geometric measurement, while spectroscopic parallax relies on stellar physics.

Stellar parallax uses the geometry of Earth's orbit, whereas spectroscopic parallax employs analysis of light to determine stellar properties (spectral type, luminosity class) to estimate the star's true energy output.

What is the key difference between stellar parallax and spectroscopic parallax?

#Videos

How Far Are The Nearest Stars? - YouTube

measurementastronomyDistanceProximitystar