The distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is crucial for the calibration of the Cosmic Distance Scale. We derive a distance to the LMC based on an analysis of ground-based photometry and HST-based spectroscopy and spectrophotometry of the LMC eclipsing binary system HV2274. Analysis of the optical light curve and HST/GHRS radial velocity curve provides the masses and radii of the binary components. Analysis of the HST/FOS UV/optical spectrophotometry provides the temperatures of the component stars and the interstellar extinction of the system. When combined, these data yield a distance to the binary system. After correcting for the location of HV2274 with respect to the center of the LMC, we find d(LMC) = 45.7 +/- 1.6 kpc or DM(LMC) = 18.30 +/- 0.07 mag. This result, which is immune to the metallicity-induced zero point uncertainties that have plagued other techniques, lends strong support to the ``short'' LMC distance scale as derived from a number of independent methods.
CITATION STYLE
Guinan, E. F., Fitzpatrick, E. L., DeWarf, L. E., Maloney, F. P., Maurone, P. A., Ribas, I., … Giménez, A. (1998). The Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud from the Eclipsing Binary HV 2274. The Astrophysical Journal, 509(1), L21–L24. https://doi.org/10.1086/311760
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