Toward a VLBI resolution of the Pleiades distance controversy

TL;DR

This paper discusses using VLBI to resolve the Pleiades distance controversy by obtaining an independent parallax measurement, aiming to clarify discrepancies between Hipparcos and other distance estimates.

Contribution

It introduces an observational program employing VLBI to measure the Pleiades' distance, providing an independent approach to resolve existing measurement discrepancies.

Findings

Preliminary VLBI measurements obtained

Potential to clarify the Pleiades distance controversy

Method shows promise for precise stellar distances

Abstract

The Pleiades is the best studied open 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. This role is called into question by the `Pleiades distance controversy' - the distance to the Pleiades from Hipparcos of approximately 120 pc is significantly different from the distance of 133 pc derived from other techniques. To resolve this issue, we plan to use Very Long Baseline Interferometry to derive a new, independent trigonometric parallax distance to the Pleiades. In these proceedings we present our observational program and report some preliminary results.