A Method to Measure the Ratio of Total to Selective Extinction toward Baade’s Window

We measure the ratio of total to selective extinction, R_{VI}=A_V/E(V-I),toward Baade's Window by comparing the VIK colors of 132 Baade's Window G and Kgiants from Tiede, Frogel, & Terndrup with the solar-neighborhood (V-I),(V-K)relation from Bessell & Brett. We find R_{VI}=2.283 +/- 0.016, and show thatour measurement has no significant dependence on stellar type from G0 to K4.Adjusting the Paczynski et al. determination of the centroid of the dereddenedBaade's Window clump for this revised value of $R_{VI}$, we find I_{0,RC}=14.43and (V-I)_{0,RC}=1.058. This implies a distance to the Baade's Window clump ofd_{BW} = 8.63 +/- 0.16 kpc, where the error bar takes account of statisticalbut not systematic uncertainties.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Ap