Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1997-02-01
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
14 pages, 6 eps figures. To appear in "The Extragalactic Distance Scale", eds. M. Livio, M. Donahue, and N. Panagia (Cambridge
Scientific paper
Stars evolving off the asymptotic giant branch and passing through spectral types F and A are excellent candidates for a new extragalactic candle. These post-AGB (PAGB) stars are the brightest members of Population II systems. They should have a narrow luminosity function, bounded from above by the shorter transition times of more massive and more luminous remnants, and from below by the core mass corresponding to the lowest-mass stars that are leaving the main sequence. Moreover, PAGB A-F supergiants are easily recognized because of their enormous Balmer jumps, and should lie both in ellipticals and the halos of spirals. I describe a photometric system that combines Gunn u with the standard BVI bandpasses, and report a successful search for PAGB stars in the halo of M31 using this uBVI system. The zero-point calibration will come from PAGB A and F stars in Galactic globular clusters. Four are presently known, and have a mean Mv = -3.4 with a scatter of only 0.2 mag. With this Mv we exactly reproduce the accepted M31 distance from its halo PAGB stars. Future plans include a uBVI survey of Milky Way globular clusters and Local Group galaxies in order to strengthen the zero-point calibration. Ultimately we can reach the Virgo Cluster through a distance ladder with only three rungs: subdwarf parallaxes, Milky Way globular clusters, and then directly to Virgo (with HST).
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