Calculating Parallax Angle Change | Need Help!

[Drew0747]

I am working on trying to calculate what the parallax is with the following information.
Latitude of the sun
declination
sin of declination
angular separation, sun to star

I have all of this data, I'm supposed to be able to calculate it from this info. Don't know how. Lost in the instructions. What needs to be divided, multiplied, sin'd or etc...?

Determine the absolute value of the change in parallax angle when the baseline is changed by 6378 km by measuring the equivalent change in angular position for a change of Sin(declination) = 1.0. Express the change in angular separation in arc seconds.

Please help!

 

[lippyka]

The change in parallax angle is the angular separation between the Sun and the star, divided by the baseline distance. So the formula is:Parallax angle (in arcseconds) = Angular separation (in degrees) / Baseline distance (in km)In your case, the angular separation is given (sun to star) and the baseline distance is 6378 km. The formula can then be simplified to: Parallax angle = Angular separation / 6378 kmTo calculate the change in parallax angle, you need to subtract the initial parallax angle from the new parallax angle. The new parallax angle can be calculated using the formula above, with the new baseline distance being 6378 km + Sin(declination). Therefore, the formula for the change in parallax angle is: Change in Parallax angle (in arcseconds) = Angular separation (in degrees) / (6378 km + Sin(declination)) - Angular separation (in degrees) / 6378 km