'''Photometric parallax''' is a means to infer the distances of [[star]]s using their colours and apparent brightnesses. It was used by the [[Sloan Digital Sky Survey]] to discover the [[Virgo super star cluster]].
UnlikeAssuming thethat [[stellara parallax]]star is on the main methodsequence, the photometricstar's parallax[[absolute methodmagnitude]] can be useddetermined tobased estimateon theits distancescolor. ofOnce starsthe overabsolute 10and kpc[[apparent awaymagnitude]]s are known, atthe distance to the expensestar ofcan muchbe moredetermined limitedby accuracyusing forthe individual[[distance measurementsmodulus]]. Strictly speaking,itIt does not actually employ any measurements of parallax and can be considered a misnomer.
Unlike the [[stellar parallax]] method, the photometric parallax method can be used to estimate the distances of stars over 10 kpc away, at the expense of much more limited accuracy for individual measurements.
Assuming that a star is on the main sequence, the star's [[absolute magnitude]] can be determined based on its color. Once the absolute and apparent magnitudes are known, the distance to the star can be determined by using the [[distance modulus]].
