Published in "Stellar astrophysics for the local group" : VIII Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics. Edited by A. Aparicio, A. Herrero, and F. Sanchez. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998
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CALIBRATION OF THE EXTRAGALACTIC DISTANCE SCALE
By Barry F. Madore 1, Wendy L. Freedman 2
1NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, Infrared Processing & Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 2Observatories, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena CA 91101, USA
The calibration and use of Cepheids as primary distance indicators is
reviewed in the context of the extragalactic distance
scale. Comparison is made with the independently calibrated Population
II distance scale and found to be consistent at the 10% level. The
combined use of ground-based facilities and the Hubble Space
Telescope now allow for the application of the Cepheid
Period-Luminosity relation out to distances in excess of 20 Mpc.
Calibration of secondary distance indicators and the direct
determination of distances to galaxies in the field as well as in the
Virgo and Fornax clusters allows for multiple paths to the
determination of the absolute rate of the expansion of the Universe
parameterized by the Hubble constant. At this point in the reduction
and analysis of Key Project galaxies
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