Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T17:31:22.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cepheid and Long – Period Variables in Virgo Cluster Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

M.J. Pierce
Affiliation:
Kitt Peak National Observatory, U.S.A.
R.D. McClure
Affiliation:
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, National Research Council, Canada
D.L. Welch
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Canada
R. Racine
Affiliation:
Université de Montreal, Canada
S. van den Bergh
Affiliation:
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, National Research Council, Canada

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We are currently undertaking a ground-based imaging survey which attempts to discover and determine periods for variable stars in Virgo Cluster galaxies. Such a survey is now feasible thanks to the high resolution imaging (FWHM ≤ 0.50 arcsec) routinely obtained with the High Resolution Camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The Virgo Cluster has long been considered a crucial “stepping-stone” in the extragalactic distance scale problem given that the cluster is at a “cosmologically interesting” distance and that there is little controversy in the relative distance between Virgo and more distant clusters, such as Coma. Consequently, much of the controversy regarding the extragalactic distance scale and the Hubble Constant can be eliminated with a determination of the Virgo Cluster distance. Some preliminary results and the prospects for establishing the distance to the Virgo Cluster using Cepheids and LPVs are discussed.

Type
Variable Stars as Distance Indicators
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

Cook, K., Aaonson, M., & Illingworth, G. 1986, ApJ, 301, L45.Google Scholar
Jacoby, G., et al. 1992, PASP, 104, 598.Google Scholar
McClure, R. et al. 1989, PASP, 101, 1156.Google Scholar
Pierce, M. 1991, in Observational Tests of Cosmological Inflation, ed. Shanks, T., Banday, A.J., Ellis, R.S., Frenk, C.S., & Wolfendale, A. W., NATO ASI Series C 348, p. 173.Google Scholar
Pierce, M., McClure, R., & Racine, R. 1992, ApJ, 393, 523.Google Scholar
Racine, R., & McClure, R. 1989, PASP, 101, 731.Google Scholar
Racine, R., Salmon, D., Cowley, D., & Sovka, J., 1991, PASP, 103, 1020.Google Scholar
Sandage, A., & Bedke, J. 1988, Atlas of Galaxies Useful for Measuring the Cosmological Distance Scale, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Division, (Washington: NASA)Google Scholar
Sandage, A. 1992, preprintGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, B., et al. 1992, preprintGoogle Scholar
Tanvir, N., et al. 1991, MNRAS, 253, 21P Google Scholar
van der Hulst, J., Skillman, E., Kennicutt, R., Bothun, G. 1987, AA, 177, 63.Google Scholar
Wood, P., Bessell, M., & Paltoglou, R. 1985, ApJ, 290, 477.Google Scholar