Distance Indicators in the Magellanic Clouds

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Abstract
In talking about the overall distance scale of the Universe and the Hubble Constant, the Magellanic Clouds are good places to start. They are stellar systems large enough to contain stars, clusters and nebulae of all types, covering a wide age range. With modern telescopes and detectors, we are able to observe stars from the very bright down to those fainter intrinsically than our own Sun. From comparative studies, we may thus establish our basic calibrations of bright objects before moving out to measure the Universe at large. At the same time, the fact that both Magellanic Clouds are independently evolving galaxies, enables us to separate the effects of stellar age and chemical evolution on the calibrations that we make.