THE IMPACT OF CONTAMINATED RR LYRAE/GLOBULAR CLUSTER PHOTOMETRY ON THE DISTANCE SCALE
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3 (Canada)
- Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Concepcion, Casilla 160-C, CL Concepcion (Chile)
RR Lyrae variables and the stellar constituents of globular clusters are employed to establish the cosmic distance scale and age of the universe. However, photometry for RR Lyrae variables in the globular clusters M3, M15, M54, M92, NGC 2419, and NGC 6441 exhibit a dependence on the clustercentric distance. For example, variables and stars positioned near the crowded high-surface brightness cores of the clusters may suffer from photometric contamination, which invariably affects a suite of inferred parameters (e.g., distance, color excess, absolute magnitude, etc.). The impetus for this study is to mitigate the propagation of systematic uncertainties by increasing awareness of the pernicious impact of contaminated and radial-dependent photometry.
- OSTI ID:
- 22047764
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 752, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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