Related papers: Current Challenges in Cepheid Distance Calibration…

The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 20 Milky Way (MW), 9 Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), 7 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), 12 M31, and 7 M33 (classical) Cepheids with periods longer than 50 days were constructed using photometric data…

Calibration of the period-luminosity relation (PLR) for Cepheids has always been one of the biggest goals of stellar astronomy. Among a considerable number of different approaches, the Baade-Becker-Wesselink (BBW) method stands in the…

We present theoretical period - magnitude relationships for Cepheids in different filters for fundamental and first overtone pulsators, completing the work by Alibert et al. (1999). The results are provided for different metallicities…

We use data on variable stars from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE III) survey to determine the three-dimensional structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Deriving individual distances to RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids…

Photometric data for 593 Cepheids in the LMC, measured by Udalski et al. in the OGLE survey, augmented by 92 longer period Cepheids from other sources, are analyzed for the P-C and P-L relations, and for the variations of amplitude, light…

The Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) relation (or Leavitt law) has served as the first rung of the most widely used extragalactic distance ladder and is central to the determination of the local value of the Hubble constant ($H_0$). We…

We present an absolute parallax and relative proper motion for the fundamental distance scale calibrator, delta Cep. We obtain these with astrometric data from FGS 3, a white-light interferometer on HST. Utilizing spectrophotometric…

A measurement of the distance to Virgo Cluster by a direct method along with a realistic error analysis is important for a reliable determination of the value of Hubble Constant. Cepheid variables in the face-on spiral M100 in the Virgo…

We present a high-precision measurement of the parallax for the 12-day Cepheid SS Canis Majoris, obtained via spatial scanning with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Spatial scanning enables astrometric…

Anomalous Cepheids are radially pulsating stars observed in dwarf galaxies, the Galactic bulge and halo, and globular clusters. Similarly to other radially pulsating stars, they can be used as distance indicators through their…

We undertook a long term project, DIRECT, to obtain the direct distances to two important galaxies in the cosmological distance ladder -- M31 and M33 -- using detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs) and Cepheids. While rare and difficult to…

Classical Cepheids (CCs) are at the heart of the empirical extragalactic distance ladder. Milky Way CCs are the only stars of this class accessible to trigonometric parallax measurements. Until recently, the most accurate trigonometric…

In this study we investigate the calibration of surface brightness--color (SBC) relations based solely on eclipsing binary stars. We selected a sample of 35 detached eclipsing binaries with trigonometric parallaxes from Gaia DR1 or…

We have calibrated the Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) using our recent catalog of homogeneous, high-accuracy Globular Cluster (GC) distances. The GC distances were determined by a global joint fit to optical period-Wesenheit relations…

(ABRIDGED) We have applied the near-IR Barnes-Evans realization of the Baade-Wesselink method as calibrated by Fouque & Gieren (1997) to five metal-poor Cepheids with periods between 13 and 17 days in the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as…

As one of the most luminous Cepheids in the Milky Way, the 41.5-day RS Puppis is an analog of the long-period Cepheids used to measure extragalactic distances. An accurate distance to this star would therefore help anchor the zero-point of…

We present a realization of the maximum-likelihood (ML) technique, which is one of the latest modifications of the Baade--Becker--Wesselink (BBW) method. Our approach is based on non-linear calibrations of the effective temperature and…

Context: The unprecedented astrometric precision of the Gaia mission relies on accurate estimates of the locations of sources in the Gaia data stream. This is ultimately performed by point spread function (PSF) fitting, which in turn…

Context. Accurate photometric calibration of astronomical photographic plates remains a fundamental challenge in astronomy, especially when bridging historical photographic data with modern observations due to the mismatch of spectral…

Since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope nine years ago, Cepheid distances to 25 galaxies have been determined for the purpose of calibrating secondary distance indicators. A variety of these can now be calibrated, and the…