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Improving the cosmic distance ladder. Distance and structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2015

T. Muraveva
Affiliation:
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
G. Clementini
Affiliation:
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
M. Palmer
Affiliation:
Dept. d'Astronomia i Meteorologia, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the closest large satellite of the Milky Way (MW) and the first step of the extragalactic distance scale, hence knowing the distance to the LMC and its three-dimensional structure contributes to the definition of the entire cosmic distance ladder. RR Lyrae stars are old objects which trace the halo of the LMC. They can be used as distance indicators because they follow a period-luminosity-metallicity (PLKsZ) relation in the Ks passband. The purpose of this study was the derivation of a new PLKsZ relation for RR Lyrae stars in the LMC based on the multi-epoch Ks photometry obtained by the VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC, Cioni et al. 2011).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2015

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