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Stellar kinematics, the study of the movement of stars, is carried out to predict their future celestial coordinates, to study stellar dynamics, and to help group stars according to their origin, thus assisting in the study the history of star formation and stellar evolution. In the case of binary stars, it helps work out their stellar parameter determination. Basic in determining stellar velocity is radial velocity through spectrography, proper motion and parallax through astrometry, and other stellar distance determination techniques.
Often, the distance to the star is less securely established than the other dimensions (its celestial coordinates), providing a challenge to knowing the exact position. Similar position, movement, and metallicity, along with their range of spectral types, lead to their grouping into stellar clusters and stellar associations, in turn very useful for the study of their formation and evolution. The Milky Way's rotation curve is a pattern in the kinematics of all its stars. Doppler shift allows some investigation of stellar kinematics of other galaxies, allowing partial determination of their rotation curves and stellar velocity dispersion. These and other specifics assist in determining other characteristics of galaxies, an example being the masses of their central supermassive black holes (SMBHs).