Related papers: The Distance to M51
Despite being one of the best-known galaxies, the distance to the Whirlpool Galaxy, M 51, is still debated. Current estimates range from 6.02 to 9.09 Mpc, and different methods yield discrepant results. No Cepheid distance has been…
Accurate distances are fundamental to interpreting many measured properties of galaxies. Surprisingly, many of the best-studied spiral galaxies in the Local Volume have distance uncertainties that are much larger than can be achieved with…
M104 (NGC 4594; the Sombrero galaxy) is a nearby, well-studied elliptical galaxy included in scores of surveys focused on understanding the details of galaxy evolution. Despite the importance of observations of M104, a consensus distance…
Accurate distances to stars and galaxies allow for significant tests of stellar evolution, galaxy formation and evolution and cosmology. NASA's Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) will obtain precision [1-30 microarcsec] astrometry for…
Images of 10 galaxies in F814W and F606W filters obtained on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are used to construct color-magnitude diagrams for the star population of these galaxies. The distances to the galaxies are estimated from the…
A large luminosity--linewidth template sample is now available, improved absorption corrections have been derived, and there are a statistically significant number of galaxies with well determined distances to supply the zero point. A…
Measurements of the linear diameters of 12 nearby spiral galaxies with distances determined from primary indicators suggest that both the Milky Way Galaxy and M31 are in the middle of the range of sizes for such galaxies. By comparing the…
For 100 years since galaxies were found to be flying apart from each other, astronomers have been trying to determine how fast. The expansion, characterized by the Hubble constant, H0, is confused locally by peculiar velocities caused by…
We measured the angular rotation and proper motion of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) with the Very Long Baseline Array by observing two H2O masers on opposite sides of the galaxy. By comparing the angular rotation rate with the inclination and…
We present here the final results of the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project to measure the Hubble constant. We summarize our method, the results and the uncertainties, tabulate our revised distances, and give the implications of these…
We have undertaken several projects with the purpose of determining accurate distances to nearby galaxies to calibrate the extragalactic distance scale. Specifically, I describe the DIRECT project which aims to derive the distance to M31…
The cosmic distance scale largely depends on distance determinations to Local Group galaxies. In this sense, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is a key rung to better constrain the cosmic distance ladder. A project was started in 1999 to firmly…
Considerable progress has been made in determining the Hubble constant over the past two decades. We discuss the cosmological context and importance of an accurate measurement of the Hubble constant, and focus on six high-precision…
New distances, larger than previous ones, have been obtained for M 31 and M 81 based on the geometrical zero-point of the Cepheid Period-luminosity relation provided by the HIPPARCOS satellite. By combining them with independent…
We have imaged the halo populations of a sample of nearby spiral galaxies using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on broad the Hubble Space Telescope with the aim of studying the stellar population properties and relating them to those of…
We present a new determination of the distance to M101, host of the type Ia SN 2011fe, based on the tip of the red giant branch method (TRGB). Our determination is based on {\it Hubble Space Telescope} archival $F555W$ and $F814W$ images of…
We observed a test globule, B 335 in U, B, g, r, and I, and together with the 2MASS survey, this data set gives a well-defined spectral energy distribution (SED) of a large number of stars. The SED of each star depends on the interstellar…
We present a purely differential line-of-sight distance between M31 and M33 using ab-type RR Lyrae variables observed in each galaxy by the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys in the F606W filter. Using 1501 RR Lyraes in 13…
We accurately determine a new Cepheid distance to M101 (NGC 5457) using archival HST/ACS V and I time series photometry of two fields within the galaxy. We make a slight modification to the ISIS image subtraction package to obtain optimal…
The Galactic bulge and bar are critical to our understanding of the Milky Way. However, due to the lack of reliable stellar distances, the structure and kinematics of the bulge/bar beyond the Galactic center have remained largely…