Related papers: Young and Intermediate-age Distance Indicators
Empirically, Type Ia supernovae are the most useful, precise, and mature tools for determining astronomical distances. Acting as calibrated candles they revealed the presence of dark energy and are being used to measure its properties.…
We demonstrate how the Fundamental Manifold (FM) can be used to cross-calibrate distance estimators even when those "standard candles" are not found in the same galaxy. Such an approach greatly increases the number of distance measurements…
In an effort to improve the utility of the helium burning red clump luminosity as a distance indicator, we explore the sensitivity of the K-band red clump absolute magnitude Mk(RC) to metallicity and age. We rely upon JK photometry for 14…
Six of the principal galaxy distance indicators are discussed: Cepheid variables, the Tully-Fisher relation, the Dn-sigma relation, Surface Brightness Fluctuations, Brightest Cluster Galaxies, and Type Ia Supernovae. The role they play in…
Detached eclipsing double line spectroscopic binaries offer an opportunity to measure directly stellar parameters: mass, luminosity, radius, as well as the distance. The only non-trivial step is the need to determine surface brightness of…
The orbital period is a measure of the size of a contact binary star, and can be combined with color to predict its luminosity to a fraction of stellar magnitude. This novel application of contact binary systems currently has limitations…
Classical Cepheids were the first stellar standard candles and have played a crucial role for astronomical distance measurements ever since the discovery of the Leavitt law (period-luminosity relation). Enormous improvements in distance…
1. We find that any two distance moduli measurements for the same galaxy differ from each other by 2.07 times the reported one sigma uncertainty on average. 2. This average difference between distance moduli measurements of the same galaxy…
Type II Cepheids are a class of pulsating variable stars that play a critical role in our understanding of stellar evolution, distance measurement and tracing the structure and kinematics of old stars in nearby galaxies. This review…
The present status of our knowledge of the distances to the Magellanic Clouds is evaluated from a post-Hipparcos perspective. After a brief summary of the effects of structure, reddening, age and metallicity, the primary distance indicators…
We investigate the use of type Ic Super Luminous Supernovae as standardizable candles and distance indicators. Their appeal as cosmological probes stems from their remarkable peak luminosities, hot blackbody temperatures and bright…
Cepheid stars are crucial objects for a variety of topics that range from stellar pulsation and the evolution of intermediate-mass stars to the understanding the structure of the Galaxy and the Universe through the distance measurements…
Because Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are not perfect standard candles, it is important to be able to use distance-independent observables (DIOs) to define subsets of SNe Ia that are ``nearly standard candles'' or to correct SN Ia absolute…
A number of recent technical developments, including the Hipparcos satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope fine guidance sensors and long base line near-IR interferometry has made it possible to employ several largely geometrical methods to…
Ultra Long Period Cepheids (ULPs) are pulsating variable stars with a period longer than 80d and have been hypothesized to be the extension of the Classical Cepheids (CCs) at higher masses and luminosities. If confirmed as standard candles,…
Classical Cepheid variable stars have been important indicators of extragalactic distance and Galactic evolution for over a century. The Spitzer Space Telescope has opened the possibility of extending the study of Cepheids into the mid- and…
Classical Cepheids are blue loop stars that have famously been dubbed "magnifying glasses of stellar evolution" and have been studied for a long time. As more and more precise observations of Cepheids are secured over ever-increasing…
The Cepheid period-luminosity relation is the primary distance indicator used in most determinations of the Hubble constant. The tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) is an alternative basis. Using the new ANU SkyMapper Telescope, we calibrate…
Cepheids are the pillar of the extragalactic distance scale, but their reach in distance is not sufficient to calibrate H_0. Yet HST has provided Cepheid distances to eight galaxies which have produced SNe Ia. The latter are used as nearly…
Milky-Way and intergalactic dust extinction and reddening must be accounted for in measurements of distances throughout the universe. This work provides a comprehensive review of the various impacts of cosmic dust focusing specifically on…