Related papers: The Cepheid Distance Scale after Hipparcos
Parallax data from the Hipparcos mission allow the direct distance to open clusters to be compared with the distance inferred from main sequence (MS) fitting. There are surprising differences between the two distance measurements, which…
In this paper, we derive the period-luminosity (PL) relation for Galactic Cepheids with recent independent distance measurements from open cluster, Barnes-Evans surface brightness, interferometry and HST astrometry techniques. Our PL…
Parallaxes for 331 classical Cepheids, 31 Type II Cepheids and 364 RR Lyrae stars in common between Gaia and the Hipparcos and Tycho-2 catalogues are published in Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) as part of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution…
We have obtained the radii and distances of 16 galactic Cepheids supposed to be members in open clusters or associations using the new optical and near-infrared calibrations of the surface brightness (Barnes-Evans) method given by Fouque &…
Uncertainty in the metal abundance dependence of the Cepheid variable period- luminosity (PL) relation remains one of the outstanding sources of systematic error in the extragalactic distance scale and Hubble constant. To test for such a…
In the context of the luminosity calibration of the nearer stars I discuss the Hipparcos results on distances to nearby OB associations and open clusters. The shortcomings and assumptions in the analyses used to derive these results are…
Hipparcos, the first ever experiment of global astrometry, was launched by ESA in 1989 and its results published in 1997 (Perryman et al., Astron. Astrophys. 323, L49, 1997; Perryman & ESA (eds), The Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues, ESA…
The mean parallax of the Pleiades open cluster from the Hipparcos catalog is larger than the true value by approximately 1 mas. The origin of this error, as well as a possible algorithm of correcting it, was proposed by Makarov (2002). The…
New distances, larger than previous ones, have been obtained for M 31 and M 81 based on the geometrical zero-point of the Cepheid Period-luminosity relation provided by the HIPPARCOS satellite. By combining them with independent…
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…
In this paper, we derive a physical argument for the existence of Period-luminosity and period-luminosity-colour relations at maximum light. We examine in detail a sample of Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and compare the variance…
Recent work by Efstathiou (2014) highlighted the importance of outliers in the period-luminosity (PL) relation of Cepheid data on the distance ladder. We present a statistical framework designed to address this difficulty, and apply it to…
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 review the results on distances and absolute ages of galactic globular clusters (GCs) obtained after the release of the Hipparcos catalogue. Several methods for the Population II local distance scale are discussed, exploiting NEW RESULTS…
We present absolute trigonometric parallaxes and relative proper motions for three members of the Pleiades star cluster, obtained with HST's Fine Guidance Sensor 1r, a white-light interferometer. We estimate spectral types and luminosity…
Because of their period-luminosity relation (PLR), classical Cepheids play a key role in the calibration of the extragalactic distance scale and the determination of the Hubble-Lema\^{i}tre constant $H_0$. Recent findings show that the…
Cepheids are key distance indicators and benchmarks for stellar evolution, yet most of them are members of binary or multiple systems. While spectroscopic surveys and Gaia proper-motion anomalies reveal a high binary fraction, the…
A summary is given of the calibration of the Cepheid scale required in the derivation of distances from observations at V and I, as in the HST work on extragalactic Cepheids. There is some evidence that a small metallicity correction may be…
There is an $\approx9\pm2.5$\% tension between the value of Hubble's Constant, $H_0=67.4\pm0.5$km\,s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$, implied by the {\it Planck} microwave background power spectrum and that given by the distance scale of…
Recent HST determinations of the expansion's rate of the Universe (the Hubble constant, H_0) assumed that the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation at V and I are independent of metallicity (Freedman, et al., 1996, Saha et al., 1996, Tanvir et…