2022MNRAS.509.4276F -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 509, 4276-4284 (2022/January-3)
Gaia EDR3 bright star parallax zero-point using stellar clusters.
FLYNN C., SEKHRI R., VENVILLE T., DIXON M., DUFFY A., MOULD J. and TAYLOR E.N.
Abstract (from CDS):
We examine the zero-point of parallaxes in the Gaia EDR3 (Early Data Release 3, Gaia Collaboration (2021a)), using stars in open and globular clusters. Our aim is to check for zero-point systematics between bright stars G < 12 (which includes some important distance scale calibrators) and faint stars G > 14, for which the parallax scale has been very well tied to the extragalactic frame using active galactic nuclei and quasars (AGN/QSOs) observed by Gaia (Lindegren et al. 2021). Cluster stars are distinguished from field stars using conservative spatial and proper motion cuts. The median parallax cluster stars fainter the G = 14 are compared with the parallaxes of bright stars (G < 14) to search for zero-point systematics. We confirm that the Lindegren et al. (2021) parallax corrections bring cluster stars into very good agreement over a wide range of magnitude and colour. We find small residual colour-dependent offsets for the bright stars (G < 11). Specifically, we find a median parallax offset of ~10 µas between the reddest stars (BP - RP > 1) compared to those stars with colours similar to the AGN/QSOs (0.5 < BP - RP < 1) that serve as the primary zero-point calibrators for EDR3. These findings are similar to those found in other recent independent checks of the zero-point scale, and have significant implications for calibrating the extragalactic distance scale to stars in the Milky Way.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
stars - parallaxes - distance scale
Simbad objects:
117
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