Related papers: The Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud from th…
We have determined the proper motion (PM) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) relative to four background quasi-stellar objects, combining data from two previous studies made by our group, and new observations carried out in four epochs not…
We have used HST-WFPC2 multiband observations of a field around SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud to measure its distance from the Sun. The observations allowed us to carefully determine the interstellar extinction along the line of…
We present a catalogue of 1768 eclipsing binary stars (EBs) detected in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by the second generation of the EROS survey (hereinafter EROS-2); 493 of them are new discoveries located in outer regions (out of the…
I explore the consequences of making the RR Lyrae and clump giant distance scales consistent in the solar neighborhood, Galactic bulge and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). I employ two major assumptions: 1) that the absolute magnitude -…
The structural parameters, like the inclination, i and the position angle of the line of nodes (PA_lon) of the disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are estimated using the JH photometric data of red clump stars from the Infrared Survey…
The observed microlensing events towards the LMC do not have yet a coherent explanation. If they are due to Galactic Halo objects, the nature of these objects is puzzling --- half the halo in dark 0.5 Msol objects. On the other hand,…
The distance to NGC 7331 has been derived from Cepheid variables observed with HST/WFPC2, as part of the Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project. Multi-epoch exposures in F555W (V) and F814W (I), with photometry derived independently from…
We have applied the unsharp-masking technique to the 24 $\mu$m image of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope, to search for high-extinction regions. This technique has been used to locate very dense…
We present a method for solving the lightcurve of an eclipsing binary system which contains a Cepheid variable as one of its components as well as the solutions for three eclipsing Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). A geometric…
Population-II pulsating stars provide a route to extragalactic distances that is independent of the classical Cepheid distance scale and complementary to geometric and tip-of-the-red-giant-branch (TRGB) methods. We apply optical Wesenheit…
We present new and independent estimates of the distances to the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) using near-infrared (NIR) and optical--NIR period--Wesenheit (PW) relations. The slopes of the PW relations are, within the dispersion, linear over the…
We present the first detailed spectroscopic and photometric analysis of an eclipsing binary in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). This is a 19.3-mag semi-detached system with components of late-O and early-B spectral types. From the light and…
The accuracy of extragalactic distance measurements ultimately depends on robust, high-precision determinations of the distances to the galaxies in the local volume. Following our detailed study addressing possible publication bias in the…
There has been much debate in recent decades as to what fraction of ionizing photons from star forming regions in the Galactic disk escape into the halo. The recent detection of the Magellanic Stream in optical line emission at the CTIO 4m…
Determining the expansion of the universe, i.e. the Hubble constant (H0) to better than 2% is required in order to understand the nature of dark energy. However, the two most accurate methods to do it, the cosmic microwave background and…
Recent observations give some clues that the lenses discovered by the microlensing experiments in the direction of the Magellanic Clouds may be located in these satellite galaxies. We re-examine the possibility that self-lensing alone may…
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…
We present the first quantitative results explaining the presence in the Large Magellanic Cloud of some asymptotic giant branch stars that share the properties of lithium rich carbon stars. A self-consistent description of time-dependent…
We want to estimate the distance to molecular clouds in the solar vicinity in a statistically precise way. Clouds are recognized as extinction discontinuities. The extinction is estimated from the $(H-K) \ vs. \ (J-H)$ diagram and distances…
We present a study illustrating the effects of the passage of a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) mass satellite on the distance and velocity distributions of satellites in $\Lambda+$Cold Dark Matter simulations of Milky Way (MW) sized halos. In…