Department of Physics

University of Durham

Level One

The Motion of Barnard's star

John Lucey & Ian Smail    Extragalactic and Cosmology Group

Abstract.The stars in the local solar neighbourhood have random motions of a few tens of kms^-1. These motions can be directly determined by velocity measurements from Doppler shifts or by the angular displacement of stars. The term proper motion is used to denote the angular motion and is expressed in units of arcsecond per year.

This computer experiment illustrates the measurement of stellar proper motions. It is based on the measurement of the proper motion of Barnard's star. This is a nearby red dwarf which has the largest known proper motion.

1. Aims of the Experiment
    
2. Introduction
    
3. Barnard's star
    
4. The Astronomer's Co-ordinate System: RA and Dec
    
5. Measurement of the Proper Motion of Barnard's star: Part 1
    
6. Measurement of the Proper Motion of Barnard's star: Part 2
    
7. Discussion
    
8. Summary
    
9. References
   

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