The calibration of the extragalactic distance scale: methods and problems

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Title: The calibration of the extragalactic distance scale: methods and problems
Author(s): Mould, Jeremy; Kennicutt Jr, Robert C.; Freedman, Wendy
Abstract: Measuring distances in the expanding universe by the classical method of `standard candles' creates a calibration problem: what is the power of the standard candles, and how standard are they? Hubble's law has recession velocity proportional to distance from the observer, v = H0d; but what is the value of H0, the Hubble constant? Ten years after the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which has made a major impact on this problem, we review progress. The HST Key Project on the extragalactic distance scale has provided a number of calibration points, galaxies at characteristic distances of 10 Mpc. HST has resolved the primary standard candles, Cepheid variable stars, beyond the reach of ground based telescopes. These galaxy `survey markers' in turn calibrate a number of more penetrating distance indicators which reach out an order of magnitude further, sufficiently far that noise in the Hubble flow deltav<
Publication type: Journal article
Source: Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 63, no. 5 (May 2000), pp. 763-791
Publication year: 2000
FOR Code(s): 01 Mathematical Sciences; 02 Physical Sciences
Keyword(s): Astrophysics and astroparticles; Calibration; Cepheids (delta Cephei, W Virginis); Determination of fundamental constants; Instrumentation and measurement; Measurement and error theory; Supernovae: general
Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing
ISSN: 0034-4885
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/63/5/2r2
Peer reviewed