Related papers: The DIRECT Project
We investigate the influence of blending on the Cepheid distance scale using two Local Group galaxies, M31 and M33. Blending leads to systematically low distances to galaxies observed with the HST, and therefore to systematically high…
Accurate masses and, in general, all fundamental parameters of distant stars can only be measured in eclipsing binaries. Several massive star candidates with masses near 200 Mo exist, however they have large uncertainties associated with…
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…
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…
DEEP is a multi-institutional program designed to undertake a major spectroscopic survey of 10,000+ field galaxies to I ~ 23 with a new instrument (DEIMOS) on the Keck II 10-m telescope. The scientific goals include exploring galaxy…
We investigate the influence of blending on the Cepheid distance scale. Blending is the close association of a Cepheid with one or more intrinsically luminous stars. High-resolution HST images are compared to our ground-based data, obtained…
In the last decade, over 7000 eclipsing binaries have been discovered in the Local Group through various variability surveys. Measuring fundamental parameters of these eclipsing binaries has become feasible with 8 meter class telescopes,…
We examine the feasibility of using dust-scattered X-rays for direct determination of distances to nearby galaxies with bright background AGNs, QSOs, or GRBs. We show how the Chandra X-Ray Observatory could be used to determine the distance…
Classical Cepheid stars have been considered since more than a century as reliable tools to estimate distances in the universe thanks to their Period-Luminosity (P-L) relationship. Moreover, they are also powerful astrophysical…
This paper summaries the status of a large project to improve distance scales of various classes of variable stars. This is being carried out by a large group in Cape Town, Japan, England and the USA. The results are illustrated by giving…
Detached eclipsing binary star systems are our primary source of measured physical properties of normal stars. I introduce DEBCat: a catalogue of detached eclipsing binaries with mass and radius measurements to the 2% precision necessary to…
Detached eclipsing binary stars (DEBS) are currently the best source of accurate and precise fundamental stellar parameters. This makes DEBS crucial targets for constraining the impact of various physical processes on stellar structure and…
Motivated by an amazing range of reported distances to the nearby Local Group spiral galaxy M33, we have obtained deep near-infrared photometry for 26 long-period Cepheids in this galaxy with the ESO VLT. From the data we constructed…
Eclipsing binaries are important benchmark objects to test and calibrate stellar structure and evolution models. This is especially true for binaries with a fully convective M-dwarf component for which direct measurements of these stars'…
Ten years ago our team completed the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the extragalactic distance scale. Cepheids were detected in some 25 galaxies and used to calibrate four secondary distance indicators that reach out into the…
Direct measurement of acceleration is a key scientific goal for both cosmology and exoplanets. For cosmology, the concept of redshift drift (more than 60 years old by the 2020s) could directly establish the…
Results of an archival survey are presented using B-band imaging of the eastern spiral arm of M31. Focusing on the eclipsing binary star population, a matched-filter technique has been used to identify 280 binary systems. Of these, 127…
Several standard candles have been tested and used to measure accurate extragalactic distances over the past decades. There have been discussions regarding the possibility of using Type-II Cepheids (T2Cs) as an alternative tool, but rarely…
DEEP is a two-phase spectral survey of faint field galaxies with the Keck Telescopes. The goals include exploring galaxy formation and evolution, mapping distant large scale structures, and constraining cosmology. DEEP, since its inception…
We present high-precision light curves of several M- and K-type, active detached eclipsing binaries (DEBs), recorded with 2-minute cadence by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Analysis of these curves, combined with new and…