Measuring transverse speeds of stars

[Physics_dude]

I know that we can measure transverse speeds  by combining parallax and proper motion measurements.

Are there other ways to measure transverse speeds?

How do you tell the transverse speeds of far away stars? Could distant stars be moving at fairly large angles to our line of sight without us realising?

Edited January 21, 2021 by Physics_dude

[andrew s]

As you say, transverse motion is measured by their proper motion (shift) against the more distant galaxies and quasars.  The accuracy of these measurements has been improved by the Gaia satellite but there are limits to how small a shift we can detect. So yes we could miss fast distant stars.  A proxy for closeness to us is high proper motion.

Regards Andrew 

Edited January 21, 2021 by andrew s

[Physics_dude]

So observing angular changes is the only way?

[andrew s]

15 minutes ago, Physics_dude said:

So observing angular changes is the only way?

As far as I know, yes.  Regards Andrew