Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000noao.prop..208p&link_type=abstract
NOAO Proposal ID #2000B-0208
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), scheduled for launch in 2006, promises distance and proper motion measurements that will revolutionize many parts of astronomy. Direct parallax measurements accurate to 10% will be limited to objects in the Galaxy, leaving important distance issues such as the zero point of the Cepheid P-L relation, only partially resolved. There are ways of using SIM's extraordinary capabilities to work around the limitations on its direct parallax measurements. One such, showcased in the scientific justification of the instrument, utilizes the fact that the big spirals such as M31 and M33 exhibit basically circular rotation. At the distances of these objects the amplitudes of the corresponding proper motions are well within SIM's projected accuracies. For galaxies with significant inclinations and nearly constant velocity curves, observation of the proper motions of stars coupled with (ground based) radial velocities, will yield distances. Accuracies better than 5% appear possible. We need to identify bright stellar members of these objects and propose a pilot project to assess our ability to minimize foreground contamination through the use of combinations of photometric filters from the Magnier et al 1992 study of M31. We focus on late A and early F supergiants where the appearance of the infrared O I triplet will confirm luminosity. The 2-hour WIYN HYDRA queue is ideal for this project.
Peterson Deane
Schaefer Gail
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