Statistical calibrations of trigonometric parallaxes

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

We examine statistical methods for calibrating trigonometric parallaxes to retrieve the absolute magnitudes of stars, using Monte Carlo simulations. Here we consider the case of the zero-point of the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid variables. The method originally proposed by Ratnatunga & Casertano was revisited by introducing a realistic density distribution of sample stars belonging to the catalogue through prior calculations of the photometric distance for each star. It is found that our method gives an unbiased estimate, regardless of any dispersions in their absolute magnitude. We further investigate the reliability of results which depend on the accuracy of parallax. Our finding is that the accuracy (˜1 mas) of Hipparcos parallaxes is not enough to obtain a reliable result due to a large variation among different ensembles of stars. More precise determination of parallaxes to an accuracy of 200 μas at least, which will be easily realized by the ongoing astrometric space satellites, will give a precise zero-point together with a dispersion in absolute magnitude.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Statistical calibrations of trigonometric parallaxes does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Statistical calibrations of trigonometric parallaxes, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Statistical calibrations of trigonometric parallaxes will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1555417

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.