| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 67-68, 2014
The Milky Way Unravelled by Gaia: GREAT Science from the Gaia Data Releases
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|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 275 - 278 | |
| Section | Grand Challenges from Gaia | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas/1567049 | |
| Published online | 17 July 2015 | |
N.A. Walton, F. Figueras, L. Balaguer-Núñez and C. Soubiran (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 67–68 (2014) 275-278
Improving the cosmic distance ladder. Distance and structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud
1 INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
2 Dept. d'Astronomia i Meteorologia, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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).
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2015