Related papers: Main-sequence fitting and the Hipparcos open clust…
A critical assessment of the quality of the Hipparcos data, partly supported by a completely new analysis of the raw data, is presented with the aim of clarifying reliability issues that have surfaced since the publication of the Hipparcos…
By relying on recently improved Hipparcos parallaxes for the Hyades, Pleiades and Ursa Major clusters we find that stellar models with updated physical inputs nicely reproduce the location in the color magnitude diagram of main sequence…
We use several main-sequence models to derive distances (and extinctions), with statistically meaningful uncertainties for 11 star-forming-regions and young clusters. The model dependency is shown to be small, allowing us to adopt the…
The present status of the distance scale to Galactic globular clusters is reviewed. Six distance determination techniques which are deemed to be most reliable are discussed in depth. These different techniques are used to calibrate the…
This paper deals with the effect of errors in the B and V magnitudes, or measurements in any other color system, on the width of the main sequence in a color-magnitude (Hertzsprung-Russell) diagram. The width is defined as the dispersion in…
We present detailed comparisons between high quality observational colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of open star clusters and synthetic CMDs based on MonteCarlo numerical simulations. The comparisons account for all of the main parameters…
Context. In the absence of complete kinematic data it has not previously been possible to furnish accurate lists of member stars for all moving groups. There has been an unresolved dispute concerning the apparent inconsistency of the…
Three binary systems in the Hyades open cluster, with known metallicity and good Johnson photometric data are used to test the validity of three independent sets of stellar evolutionary tracks. A statistical method is described and applied…
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…
We employed field star decontaminated 2MASS photometry to study four nearby optical embedded clusters -- Collinder34, NGC3293, NGC3766 and NGC6231 -- obtaining deep colour-magnitude diagrams and stellar radial density profiles. We found…
We aim to investigate the feasibility of accurately determining the helium-to-metal enrichment ratio $\Delta Y/\Delta Z$ for open clusters using Gaia DR3 photometry. To test the reliability of this calibration, we performed a theoretical…
Using the Ginzburg-Landau theory extended to the next-to-leading order we determine numerically the healing lengths of the two order parameters at the two-gap superconductor/normal metal interface. We demonstrate on several examples that…
We fit various colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of the high-latitude Galactic globular clusters NGC\,5024 (M53), NGC\,5053, NGC\,5272 (M3), NGC\,5466, and NGC\,7099 (M30) by isochrones from the Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database and Bag…
We extend our effort to calibrate stellar isochrones in the Johnson-Cousins ($BVI_C$) and the 2MASS ($JHK_s$) filter systems based on observations of well-studied open clusters. Using cool main-sequence (MS) stars in Praesepe, we define…
The theoretical prediction that trigonometric parallaxes suffer from a statistical effect, has become topical again now that the results of the Hipparcos satellite have become available. This statistical effect, the so-called Lutz-Kelker…
Accurate and deep BVI CCD photometry is presented for the core regions of six southern compact open clusters (supplemented in one case by U and R bands). These clusters generally have only scanty photometric data published, in some case…
We discuss the impact of Population II and Globular Cluster (GCs) stars on the derivation of the age of the Universe, and on the study of the formation and early evolution of galaxies, our own in particular. The long-standing problem of the…
The statistical test described by Wielen et al.(1994) is used to derive new zero-points of ground-based Cepheid period-luminosity (PL) and period-luminosity-colour (PLC) relations. Eleven relations are compared with the Hipparcos data. Our…
The tension between the Hipparcos parallax of the Pleiades and other independent distance estimates continues even after the new reduction of the Hipparcos astrometric data and the development of a new geometric distance measurement for the…
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…