Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1999-04-27
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 17 pages with 17 embedded figures and 3 tables using emulateapj.sty. Ad
Scientific paper
10.1086/307764
In an attempt to use Cepheid variables to determine the distance to the Centaurus cluster, we have obtained images of NGC 4603 with the Hubble Space Telescope on 9 epochs using WFPC2 and the F555W and F814W filters. This galaxy has been suggested to lie within the ``Cen30'' portion of the cluster and is the most distant object for which this method has been attempted. Previous distance estimates for Cen30 have varied significantly and some have presented disagreements with the peculiar velocity predicted from redshift surveys, motivating this investigation. Using our observations, we have found 61 candidate Cepheid variable stars; however, a significant fraction of these candidates are likely to be nonvariable stars whose magnitude measurement errors happen to fit a Cepheid light curve of significant amplitude for some choice of period and phase. Through a maximum likelihood technique, we determine that we have observed 43 +/- 7 real Cepheids and that NGC 4603 has a distance modulus of 32.61 +0.11/-0.10 (random, 1 sigma) +0.24/-0.25 (systematic, adding in quadrature), corresponding to a distance of 33.3 Mpc. This is consistent with a number of recent estimates of the distance to NGC 4603 or Cen30 and implies a small peculiar velocity consistent with predictions from the IRAS 1.2 Jy redshift survey if the galaxy lies in the foreground of the cluster.
Davis Martin
Freedman Wendy L.
Madore Barry F.
Newman Jeffrey A.
Phelps Randy
No associations
LandOfFree
A Cepheid Distance to NGC 4603 in Centaurus 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 A Cepheid Distance to NGC 4603 in Centaurus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Cepheid Distance to NGC 4603 in Centaurus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-92921