For centuries, astronomers had searched for the apparent shift in the position of a nearby star due to the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the parallax that would prove that the Earth moves and would give the distance to the stars. In 1838 the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel, at Konigsberg, using a heliometer, measured a shift of 0.31 arc-seconds for the faint star 61 Cygni, putting it about 10.3 light years away, near today's figure of 11.4. Thomas Henderson in South Africa (Alpha Centauri) and Friedrich Struve (Vega) made similar measurements at about the same time. They showed the universe's scale for the first time.
Before and after
- 23 November 1837Birth of Johannes Diderik van der Waals
- 24 December 1837Birth of Empress Elisabeth of Austria
- 1838Founding of Duke University
- 1838Founding of The Times of India
- 1838Friedrich Bessel measures the first stellar parallax
- 18 February 1838Birth of Ernst Mach
- from 25 May 1838 to 1 January 1839Cherokee removal
- from 18 August 1838 to 10 June 1842United States Exploring Expedition
- 1839Photography
More in Universe & space
- 11 January 1787Discovery of Titania
- 11 January 1787Discovery of Oberon
- 28 August 1789Discovery of Enceladus
- 17 September 1789Discovery of Mimas
- 10 October 1846Discovery of Triton
- 24 October 1851Discovery of Umbriel
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.