The distance scale extragalactic
Measuring the distances to objects in the universe is a topic of fundamental importance to astronomy, and at the same time has proven to be one of the most difficult to achieve.
Without knowing the distance of a star, for example, we cannot know its luminosity that tells us much about their physical characteristics. The same is true for other objects such as galaxies. Without mastering the art of measuring distances to faraway galaxies very accurately, we cannot understand well the structure and past and future evolution of the Universe.
CATA astronomers are working on a series of programs to improve existing methods of measuring distances to galaxies, and to design new techniques to achieve this purpose. The main emphasis of their work is to measure precise distances to nearby galaxies in the local Universe, using methods such as Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables, eclipsing binaries and red giant stars and super-giant blue ones. All these objects are very bright and therefore observable at great distances. One of the main purposes is to achieve a more precise calibration of the "distance scale", and apply it to more accurately dimension the distant Universe, to improve the knowledge of the parameters of cosmology, which describes the entire Universe.
Main researcher: Wolfgang Gieren
Associated researchers: Grzegorz Pietrzynski, Dante Minniti, Ronald Mennickent, Ricardo Demarco.
