The Messenger Astronomical Science

The Araucaria Project Establishes the Most Precise Benchmark for Cosmic Distances

No. 179 (March 2020), 24–28

Authors
  • Pietrzyński, Grzegorz [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland; Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile]
  • Graczyk, Dariusz [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland; Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile; Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), Santiago, Chile]
  • Gallenne, Alexandre [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland; Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile; Unidad Mixta Internacional Franco-Chilena de Astronomía (CNRS UMI 3386), Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte dAzur, Nice, France]
  • Gieren, Wolfgang [Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile]
  • Thompson, Ian [Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, USA]
  • Pilecki, Bogumił [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Karczmarek, Paulina [Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile]
  • Górski, Marek [Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile]
  • Suchomska, Ksenia [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Taormina, Monica [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Zgirski, Bartłomiej [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Wielgórski, Piotr [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Nardetto, Nicolas [Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte dAzur, Nice, France]
  • Kervella, Pierre [LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Meudon, France]
  • Bresolin, Fabio [Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu, USA]
  • Kudritzki, Rolf Peter [Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu, USA; University Observatory Munich, LMU, Germany]
  • Storm, Jesper [Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics, Potsdam, Germany]
  • Smolec, Radosław [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Narloch, Weronika [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Kałuszyński, Mikołaj [Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Warsaw, Poland]
  • Villanova, Sandro [Universidad de Concepción, Departamento de Astronomía, Concepción, Chile]
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Section
Astronomical Science
Abstract

In the last 20 years, over the course of the Araucaria project, we have studied 20 very special eclipsing binary systems in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Based on these systems and our newly calibrated surface brightness–colour relation we have measured a distance to the LMC that is accurate to 1%. This is currently the best benchmark for cosmic distances and it will therefore impact several fields of astrophysics. In particular, it has allowed a determination of the Hubble constant with a precision of 1.9%.

DOI
Bibcode
2020Msngr.179...24P
Dates
Created: 2020-03-01/2020-03-31
Length
5 pages
Rights
Copyright European Southern Observatory

Cite this article:

Pietrzyński, G., Graczyk, D., Gallenne, A., Gieren, W., Thompson, I., Pilecki, B., Karczmarek, P., Górski, M., Suchomska, K., Taormina, M., Zgirski, B., Wielgórski, P., Nardetto, N., Kervella, P., Bresolin, F., Kudritzki, R., Storm, J., Smolec, R., Narloch, W., Kałuszyński, M., Villanova, S.; The Araucaria Project Establishes the Most Precise Benchmark for Cosmic Distances. The Messenger 179 (March 2020): 24–28. https://doi.org/10.18727/0722-6691/5189