Stellar twins determine the distance of the Pleiades

TL;DR

This paper uses a model-independent twin star method to determine the Pleiades' distance, resolving previous discrepancies and supporting stellar evolution models with new parallax measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a twin star-based parallax method to accurately measure stellar distances, providing a resolution to the Pleiades distance controversy.

Findings

Mean cluster distance of 134.8 pc consistent with stellar models

Individual parallaxes for 15 stars in the Pleiades

Supports the validity of stellar evolution models

Abstract

Since the release of the Hipparcos catalog in 1997, the distance to the Pleiades open cluster has been heavily debated. The distance obtained from Hipparcos and those by alternative methods differ by 10 to 15 %. As accurate stellar distances are key to understanding stellar structure and evolution, this dilemma puts the validity of stellar evolution models into question. Using our model-independent method to determine parallaxes based on twin stars, we report individual parallaxes of 15 FGK type stars in the Pleiades in anticipation of the astrometric mission Gaia. These parallaxes give a mean cluster parallax of $7.42\pm0.09~\mathrm{mas}$ corresponding to a mean cluster distance of ${ 134.8\pm 1.7~\mathrm{pc}}$. This value agrees with the current results obtained from stellar evolution models.