| Issue |
A&A
Volume 463, Number 2, February IV 2007
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 559 - 565 | |
| Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters, and populations | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20052721 | |
| Published online | 20 November 2006 | |
K-band magnitude of the red clump as a distance indicator*
Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium e-mail: veerle@ster.kuleuven.be
Received:
18
January
2005
Accepted:
21
September
2006
We have investigated how the K-band magnitude of the red clump ![$[M_K(RC)]$](/articles/aa/abs/2007/08/aa2721-05/aa2721-05_tex_eq1.png)
depends on age and metallicity, using 2MASS infrared data for a sample of 24 open clusters with known distances.
We show that a constant value of 
is a reasonable assumption to use in distance determinations for clusters with metallicity between -0.5 and +0.4 dex and age between
108.5 and 109.9 years.
Key words: open clusters and associations: general / stars: horizontal-branch / stars: distances
© ESO, 2007
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