Distances to Local Group Galaxies

Distances to galaxies in the Local Group are reviewed. In particular, the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud is found to be $(m-M)_0 = 18.52 \pm 0.10$, corresponding to $50,600 \pm 2,400$ pc. The importance of M31 as an analog of the galaxies observed at greater distances is stressed, while the variety of star formation and chemical enrichment histories displayed by Local Group galaxies allows critical evaluation of the calibrations of the various distance indicators in a variety of environments.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, to appear in "Stellar Candles for the Extragalactic Distance Scale", Lecture Notes in Physics (Springer), ed. D. Alloin and W. Giere

The CTIO Prime Focus CCD: System Characteristics from 1982-1988

The CTIO Prime Focus CCD instrument with an RCA CCD was in operation at the CTIO 4-m telescope for six years between 1982-1988. A large body of literature has been published based on CCD images taken with this instrument. We review the general properties of the now-retired PFCCD system to aid astronomers in the interpretation of the photometric data in the literature.Comment: Accepted for publication in the PASP. 15 pages, AASTeX V4.0 latex format (including figures), 4 ps figures, 4 separate AASTeX V4.0 latex table

A Survey for EHB Stars in the Galactic Bulge

We present a progress report on an extensive survey to find and characterize all types of blue horizontal-branch stars in the nuclear bulge of the Galaxy. We have obtained wide, shallow imaging in UBV of ~12 square degrees in the bulge, with follow-up spectroscopy for radial velocities and metal abundance determinations. We have discovered a number of metal-rich blue HB stars, whose presence in the bulge is expected by the interpretation of the extragalactic ultraviolet excess. Very deep images have been obtained in UBV and SDSS u along the bulge minor axis, which reveal a significant number of EHB candidates fainter than B = 19, i.e., with the same absolute magnitudes as EHB stars in several globular clusters.Comment: To appear in "Extreme Horizontal Branch Stars and Related Objects", Astrophysics and Space Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, proceedings of the meeting held in Keele, UK, June 16-20, 200