Facial reconstruction

Search LJMU Research Online

Browse Repository | Browse E-Theses

The Araucaria Project: The distance to the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy from near-infrared photometry of RR Lyrae stars

Karczmarek, P, Pietrzyński, G, Górski, M, Gieren, W and Bersier, D (2017) The Araucaria Project: The distance to the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy from near-infrared photometry of RR Lyrae stars. The Astronomical Journal, 154 (6). ISSN 0004-6256

[img]
Preview
Text
The Araucaria Project The distance to the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy from near-infrared photometry of RR Lyrae stars.pdf - Published Version

Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

We have obtained single-phase near-infrared (NIR) magnitudes in the J- and K-bands for 77 RR Lyrae (RRL) stars in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy. We have used different theoretical and empirical NIR period-luminosity-metallicity calibrations for RRL stars to derive their absolute magnitudes, and found a true, reddening-corrected distance modulus of 20.818 +/- 0.015 (statistical) +/- 0.116 (systematic) mag. This value is in excellent agreement with the results obtained within the Araucaria Project from the NIR photometry of red clump stars (20.858 +/- 0.013 mag), the tip of the red giant branch (20.84 +/- 0.04 +/- 0.14 mag), as well as with other independent distance determinations to this galaxy. The effect of metallicity and reddening is substantially reduced in the NIR domain, making this method a robust tool for accurate distance determination at the 5 percent level. This precision is expected to reach the level of 3 percent once the zero points of distance calibrations are refined thanks to the Gaia mission. NIR period-luminosity-metallicity relations of RRL stars are particularly useful for distance determinations to galaxies and globular clusters up to 300 kpc, that lack young standard candles, like Cepheids.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: astro-ph.GA; astro-ph.GA; astro-ph.SR
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher: American Astronomical Society IOP Publishing
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 09 Nov 2017 09:45
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2021 03:39
DOI or ID number: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa9574
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7496
View Item View Item