I was recently watching a documentary about outer space and this was constantly brought up. I have a general understanding but it always seems so confusing because there is many definitions on the internet.
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Imagine that there is an object in front of you about 10 metres away. When you stand directly in line with that object, it is right in front of you.
However, let’s say you start walking in a circle. The centre point of this circle is in that original spot 10 metres in front of the object. As you walk in a circle, you will see the position of this object change. When you are on one side of the circle, the object will appear to the left of you. When on the opposite side, it will appear to the right. This change in perception is basically what parallax is. The object never moved, but since we moved, it appears in different positions.
Parallax is important in astronomy because we are trying to observe objects while we are constantly moving. On some days, the object might appear to the left, and other days, it might appear to the right. Understanding parallax helps us determine where the object on average should be, and we can also predict where it will appear at any given time. We can also use the principle of parallax to determine how far objects are by using geometry and trigonometry.
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