Olaf Szewczyk et al. 2009 The Astronomical Journal 138 1661 doi:10.1088/0004-6256/138/6/1661
Olaf Szewczyk1, Grzegorz Pietrzyński1,2, Wolfgang Gieren1, Anna Ciechanowska2, Fabio Bresolin3 and Rolf-Peter Kudritzki3
Show affiliationsWe have obtained deep infrared J- and K-band observations of nine 4.9 × 4.9 arcmin fields in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with the ESO New Technology Telescope equipped with the SOFI infrared camera. In these fields, 34 RR Lyrae stars cataloged by the OGLE collaboration were identified. Using different theoretical and empirical calibrations of the infrared period-luminosity-metallicity relation, we find consistent SMC distance moduli, and find a best true distance modulus to the SMC of 18.97 ± 0.03 (statistical) ±0.12 (systematic) mag, which agrees well with most independent distance determinations to this galaxy, and puts the SMC 0.39 mag more distant than the Large Magellanic Cloud for which our group has recently derived, from the same technique, a distance of 18.58 mag.
distance scale; galaxies: distances and redshifts; galaxies: individual (SMC); infrared: stars; stars: individual (RR Lyrae)
Issue 6 (2009 December)
Received 2009 August 17, accepted for publication 2009 October 9
Published 2009 October 29
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