Astrometry with the [ITAL]Hubble Space Telescope[/ITAL]: A Parallax of the Fundamental Distance Calibrator RR Lyrae | Zendy

G. F. Benedict | Zendy; B. McArthur | Zendy; L. W. Fredrick | Zendy; T. E. Harrison | Zendy; J. Lee | Zendy; C. L. Slesnick | Zendy; Jaehyon Rhee | Zendy; Richard J. Patterson | Zendy; Edmund Nelan | Zendy; W. H. Jefferys | Zendy; W. van Altena | Zendy; P. J. Shelus | Zendy; O. G. Franz | Zendy; L. H. Wasserman | Zendy; P. D. Hemenway | Zendy; R. L. Duncombe | Zendy; D. Story | Zendy; A. L. Whipple | Zendy; A. J. Bradley | Zendy

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Astrometry with the [ITAL]Hubble Space Telescope[/ITAL]: A Parallax of the Fundamental Distance Calibrator RR Lyrae

Author(s) -

G. F. Benedict,

B. McArthur,

L. W. Fredrick,

T. E. Harrison,

J. Lee,

C. L. Slesnick,

Jaehyon Rhee,

Richard J. Patterson,

Edmund Nelan,

W. H. Jefferys,

W. van Altena,

P. J. Shelus,

O. G. Franz,

L. H. Wasserman,

P. D. Hemenway,

R. L. Duncombe,

D. Story,

A. L. Whipple,

A. J. Bradley

Publication year - 2002

Publication title -

the astronomical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.61

H-Index - 271

eISSN - 1538-3881

pISSN - 0004-6256

DOI - 10.1086/338087

Subject(s) - rr lyrae variable , physics , distance modulus , astrophysics , parallax , photometry (optics) , absolute magnitude , astrometry , cosmic distance ladder , astronomy , extinction (optical mineralogy) , magnitude (astronomy) , proper motion , apparent magnitude , galaxy , stars , redshift , optics , globular cluster

We present an absolute parallax and relative proper motion for thefundamental distance scale calibrator, RR Lyr. We obtain these with astrometricdata from FGS 3, a white-light interferometer on HST. We find $\pi_{abs} = 3.82\pm 0.2$ mas. Spectral classifications and VRIJHKT$_2$M and DDO51 photometry ofthe astrometric reference frame surrounding RR Lyr indicate that fieldextinction is low along this line of sight. We estimate =0.07\pm0.03 forthese reference stars. The extinction suffered by RR Lyr becomes one of thedominant contributors to the uncertainty in its absolute magnitude. Adoptingthe average field absorption, =0.07 \pm 0.03, we obtain M_V^{RR} = 0.61^{-0.11}_{+0.10}. This provides a distance modulus for the LMC, m-M = 18.38 -18.53^{-0.11}_{+0.10} with the average extinction-corrected magnitude of RR Lyrvariables in the LMC, , remaining a significant uncertainty. We comparethis result to more than 80 other determinations of the distance modulus of theLMC.Comment: Several typos corrected. To appear in The Astronomical Journal, January 200

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