stellar parallax of 61 Cygni
E579590
The stellar parallax of 61 Cygni is the first successfully measured trigonometric parallax of a star, providing direct evidence of stellar distances beyond the Solar System.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| stellar parallax of 61 Cygni canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6250963 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: stellar parallax of 61 Cygni Context triple: [Friedrich Bessel, hasDiscovered, stellar parallax of 61 Cygni]
-
A.
Barnard's Star
Barnard's Star is a nearby red dwarf star in the constellation Ophiuchus, notable for its proximity to Earth and its high proper motion, making it a prime candidate for interstellar mission concepts.
-
B.
Alpha Capricorni
Alpha Capricorni is a bright multiple star system in the constellation Capricornus, visible to the naked eye as a single star but actually composed of two widely separated components.
-
C.
The Motion of Stars
The Motion of Stars is a 1910 silent short film directed by D.W. Griffith that explores astronomical themes through early cinematic techniques.
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D.
Beta Eridani
Beta Eridani, traditionally known as Cursa, is a bright blue-white giant star in the constellation Eridanus visible to the naked eye.
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E.
Alpha Eridani
Alpha Eridani, traditionally known as Achernar, is a bright, rapidly rotating blue-white star marking the southern end of the constellation Eridanus.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: stellar parallax of 61 Cygni Target entity description: The stellar parallax of 61 Cygni is the first successfully measured trigonometric parallax of a star, providing direct evidence of stellar distances beyond the Solar System.
-
A.
Barnard's Star
Barnard's Star is a nearby red dwarf star in the constellation Ophiuchus, notable for its proximity to Earth and its high proper motion, making it a prime candidate for interstellar mission concepts.
-
B.
Alpha Capricorni
Alpha Capricorni is a bright multiple star system in the constellation Capricornus, visible to the naked eye as a single star but actually composed of two widely separated components.
-
C.
The Motion of Stars
The Motion of Stars is a 1910 silent short film directed by D.W. Griffith that explores astronomical themes through early cinematic techniques.
-
D.
Beta Eridani
Beta Eridani, traditionally known as Cursa, is a bright blue-white giant star in the constellation Eridanus visible to the naked eye.
-
E.
Alpha Eridani
Alpha Eridani, traditionally known as Achernar, is a bright, rapidly rotating blue-white star marking the southern end of the constellation Eridanus.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (40)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
astronomical measurement
ⓘ
trigonometric stellar parallax ⓘ |
| angularUnit | arcsecond ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
61 Cygni A
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
61 Cygni B NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| category | stellar distance indicator ⓘ |
| demonstrated |
applicability of geometric methods to stellar distances
ⓘ
finite distance to the stars ⓘ |
| dependsOn | Earth’s orbital motion around the Sun ⓘ |
| distanceInLightYears | about 11.4 light-years ⓘ |
| distanceInParsecs | about 3.5 parsecs ⓘ |
| evidenceFor | large scale of the Milky Way ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
19th-century astrometry
ⓘ
early empirical confirmation of stellar distances ⓘ |
| influenced |
development of precise positional astronomy
ⓘ
subsequent stellar parallax programs ⓘ |
| locatedInConstellation | Cygnus NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| measuredBy | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| measurementType | annual parallax ⓘ |
| measurementYear | 1838 ⓘ |
| methodUsed | trigonometric parallax method ⓘ |
| objectOfStudy | 61 Cygni NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| observedFrom | Earth NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| observedWith | Fraunhofer heliometer at Königsberg Observatory NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| parallaxValue |
about 0.3136 arcseconds
ⓘ
about 0.314 arcseconds ⓘ |
| partOf |
history of astrometry
ⓘ
history of astronomy ⓘ |
| providesEvidenceFor |
existence of large distances between stars and the Solar System
ⓘ
heliocentric model of the Solar System ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1838 ⓘ |
| publishedBy | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
stellar parallax of Alpha Centauri
ⓘ
stellar parallax of Vega ⓘ |
| significance |
first direct geometric distance determination to a star other than the Sun
ⓘ
first successfully measured trigonometric parallax of a star ⓘ |
| usedAsExampleIn |
astronomy education
ⓘ
textbooks on stellar distances ⓘ |
| usedIn | calibration of the cosmic distance ladder ⓘ |
| usedToDetermine | distance to 61 Cygni ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: stellar parallax of 61 Cygni Description of subject: The stellar parallax of 61 Cygni is the first successfully measured trigonometric parallax of a star, providing direct evidence of stellar distances beyond the Solar System.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.