A VLBI Resolution of the Pleiades Distance Controversy.

昴宿星团距离争议的 VLBI 解决方案。

• 批准号: 1313428
• 负责人: Carl Melis
• 金额: $ 47.02万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-15 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1313428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: VLBI; Resolution; Pleiades; Distance; Controversy.

The Pleiades is the best studied open star cluster in the sky. It is one of the primary open clusters used to define the "Zero Age Main Sequence" and hence it serves as a cornerstone for programs which use main-sequence fitting to derive distances to other clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. This role is called into question by the "Pleiades distance controversy"; the distance to the Pleiades from the Hipparcos space astrometry mission of about 120 pc is significantly different from the distance of 133 pc derived from other techniques. In order to resolve this issue, the PI will use Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to derive a new, independent trigonometric parallax distance to the Pleiades. He will complete all VLBI measurements for the sample of ten Pleiads and any necessary auxiliary measurements with optical and infrared telescopes.With the completion of this project the Pleiades distance controversy will be resolved, solidifying the use of the Pleiades in determining Galactic structure. In lockstep, the PI will launch a multi-faceted education program that is aimed at the recruitment, retention, and advancement of minority groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

昴宿星团是天空中被研究得最好的疏散星团。它是用来定义“零年龄主序”的主要疏散星团之一，因此它是使用主序拟合来获得银河系中其他星团距离的程序的基石。这个角色受到了“昴宿星距离争议”的质疑；依巴谷太空天文测量任务得出的到昴星团的距离约为120pc，与其他技术得出的13pc的距离有很大不同。为了解决这个问题，PI将使用甚长基线干涉测量法（VLBI）得出一个新的、独立的三角视差距离到昴星团。他将完成十颗昴宿星样本的所有VLBI测量和任何必要的光学和红外望远镜辅助测量。随着这个项目的完成，关于昴宿星团距离的争议将得到解决，从而巩固了昴宿星团在确定银河系结构方面的应用。与此同时，警察厅还将推进以科学、技术、工程、数学等领域的少数民族的聘用、保留、发展为目标的“多面教育”。

项目成果

A VLBI resolution of the Pleiades distance controversy

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1256101
• 发表时间: 2012-08
• 期刊: Science
• 影响因子: 56.9
• 作者: C. Melis;M. Reid;A. Mioduszewski;J. Stauffer;G. Bower