However, fixed stars show parallax. It can be used to find the distance to nearby stars. This motion is only apparent; it is the Earth that moves. This effect was small enough not to be accurately measured until the 19th century, but from about 1670 and onward, astronomers such as Jean Picard, Robert Hooke, John Flamsteed, and others began detecting motion from the stars and attempting measurements. These movements amounted to significant, if almost imperceptibly small, fractions. The first successful stellar parallax measurements were done by Thomas Henderson in Cape Town South Africa in 1832-1833, where he measured parallax of one of the closest stars ― alpha Centauri.
