Suppose you measure the parallax angle for a particular star to be 0.1 arcsecond. The distance to this star is

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The question asks for the distance to a star given its measured parallax angle.
First, recall the relation used in astrometry: distance in parsecs = 1 divided by the parallax angle in arcseconds.
Here, the parallax angle p is 0.1 arcseconds. Computing 1/p gives 1 / 0.1 = 10.
Thus, the distance to the star is 10 parsecs. The unit parsec comes from the definition of a parsec, which is the distance at which 1 AU subtends 1 arcsecond of angle, making the inverse relationship between parallax and distance exact in these units.
A common point of confusion could be confusing arcseconds with degrees or converting to light-years; note that arcseconds are the appropriate unit for parallax in this inverse relationship, and 0.1 arcseconds corresponds to 10 parsecs. If one were to mistakenly use 0.1 arcminutes or arcseconds in a different formula, the result would be incorrect due to unit misapplication, but the standard parallax-distance relation uses arcseconds and parsecs directly.
Since the answer options are not provided in the prompt, this explanation focuses on the core calculation and the underlying concept rather than selecting among given choices.

COS SPR 25 class 2 Mar 6 Ch15: Surveying the Stars

Suppose you measure the parallax angle for a particular star to be 0.1 arcsecond. The distance to this star is

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