A Parallactic Distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the Orion Nebula Cluster from Very Long Baseline Array Observations

Karin M. Sandstrom; J. E. G. Peek; Geoffrey C. Bower; Alberto D. Bolatto; Richard L. Plambeck

doi:10.1086/520922

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arXiv · 0706.2361

A Parallactic Distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the Orion Nebula Cluster from Very Long Baseline Array Observations

Karin M. Sandstrom·J. E. G. Peek·Geoffrey C. Bower·Alberto D. Bolatto·Richard L. Plambeck

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Abstract

We determine the parallax and proper motion of the flaring, non-thermal radio star GMR A, a member of the Orion Nebula Cluster, using Very Long Baseline Array observations. Based on the parallax, we measure a distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the source. Our measurement places the Orion Nebula Cluster considerably closer than the canonical distance of 480 +/- 80 parsecs determined by Genzel et al. (1981). A change of this magnitude in distance lowers the luminosities of the stars in the cluster by a factor of ~ 1.5. We briefly discuss two effects of this change--an increase in the age spread of the pre-main sequence stars and better agreement between the zero-age main-sequence and the temperatures and luminosities of massive stars.

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Karin M. Sandstrom, J. E. G. Peek, Geoffrey C. Bower, Alberto D. Bolatto, Richard L. Plambeck. 2007-06-15. A Parallactic Distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the Orion Nebula Cluster from Very Long Baseline Array Observations. https://doi.org/10.1086/520922

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