Related papers: The Distance to the Magellanic Clouds
We present a Bayesian analysis of the distances to 15,040 Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) RR Lyrae stars using $V$- and $I$-band light curves from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, in combination with new $z$-band observations from…
The Large and Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC and SMC) form the closest interacting galactic system to the Milky Way, therewith providing a laboratory to test cosmological models in the local Universe. We quantify the likelihood for the…
We present new B, V, I photometry in the standard Johnson-Cousins photometric system of two regions near the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of which is very close to LMC field used for the "Coimbra test on the synthetic CMD…
It has recently been suggested that the discrepancy between the "long" and "short" distance moduli of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), as inferred from the properties of the Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables, respectively, might be due to the…
I derive an upper limit to the distance to SN 1987A of $\dsn<46.77\pm 0.76\,\kpc$, or a distance modulus $\mu_\sn<18.350\pm 0.035$. If SN 1987A lies in the plane of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and hence 500 pc in front of the LMC…
(abridged) New photometry and spectroscopy for more than a hundred RR Lyrae stars in two fields located close to the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are used to derive new accurate estimates of the average magnitude, the local…
The distance to the centroid of the M31 globular cluster system is determined by fitting theoretical isochrones to the observed red-giant branches of fourteen globular clusters in M31. The mean true distance modulus of the M31 globular…
The correlation between the luminosities and rotation velocities of galaxies can be used to estimate distances to late-type galaxies. It is an appropriate moment to re-evaluate this method given the great deal of new information available.…
Analysing all Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) galaxies within a factor two (+/- 0.3 dex) of the stellar mass of the Milky Way (MW), there is a 11.9% chance that one of these galaxies will have a close companion (within a projected…
In this contribution I will present the current status of our project of stellar population analyses and spatial information of both Magellanic Clouds (MCs). The Magellanic Clouds - especially the LMC with its large size and small depth…
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…
The Hipparcos I-band calibration of horizontal-branch red clump giants as standard candles has lead to controversial results for the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). In an attempt to properly ascertain the corrections for…
Mira variables are useful distance indicators, due to their high luminosities and well-defined period-luminosity relation. We select 1863 Miras from SAAO and MACHO observations to examine their use as distance estimators in the Milky Way.…
We analyze the mean luminosity of three samples of field RRab Lyr stars observed in the course of the OGLE microlensing experiment: 73 stars from the Galactic bulge and 110 and 128 stars from selected fields in the LMC and SMC,…
We present UBV photometry of the eclipsing binary Harvard Variable 2274 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The stellar parameters of this binary system were calculated by Guinan et al. (1998a) who gave both a reddening towards HV 2274 of…
A list of 50 bright Detached Eclipsing Binaries proposed for precise parallax measurements for the FAME is presented. The eclipsing binaries, with precise distances and with photometric and double-line spectroscopic orbits determined, are…
We present a study of the shape of the Large Magellanic Cloud disk. We use the brightnesses of core helium-burning red clump stars identified in V-I,I color-magnitude diagrams of 50 randomly selected LMC fields, observed with the CTIO 0.9-m…
We present a detailed investigation of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) disk using classical Cepheids. Our analysis is based on optical (I,V; OGLE-IV), near-infrared (NIR: J,H,Ks) and mid-infrared (MIR: w1; WISE) mean magnitudes. By…
We test two different methods of using near-infrared extinction to estimate distances to dark clouds in the first quadrant of the Galaxy using large near infrared (2MASS and UKIDSS) surveys. VLBI parallax measurements of masers around…
A most desirable feature of a standard candle to estimate astronomical distances is robustness against changes in metallicity and age. It is argued that the radii of main sequence stars with spectral types from solar to A0 show predictable…