The Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud from the Eclipsing Binary HV2274
Abstract
The distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is crucial for the calibration of the Cosmic Distance Scale. We derive an accurate and independent distance to the LMC based on an analysis of both ground based photometry and HST FOS and GHRS spectrophotometry of the eclipsing binary HV2274. The HST/FOS observations directly determine the temperatures, metallicities, and interstellar extinction of the system. Analysis of radial velocities of the system from GHRS and optical light curves provide the masses and radii of the stars. When combined, these data yield the luminosities of the stars, and hence, an accurate distance determination to the LMC. The result is V-M(V) = +18.42 +/- 0.07 mag (d = 48.3 +/- 1.6 kpc), a value in good agreement with some of the recent LMC distance determinations. Using eclipsing binaries to determine distance is much more direct and is based on fewer assumptions and approximations than other procedures currently in use. The analysis of several eclipsing binaries should reduce the uncertainty in the distance to the LMC to less than 2%. This would represent a significant improvement over the current uncertainty of 10-15% in the LMC distance.Keywords
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