@inproceedings{c4cfab1fe465457e93f84b8855546f97,
title = "Variability in the Milky Way: contact binaries as diagnostic tools",
abstract = "We used the 50 cm Binocular Network (50BiN) telescope at Delingha Station (Qinghai Province) of Purple Mountain Observatory (Chinese Academy of Sciences) to obtain simultaneous V- and R-band observations of the old open cluster NGC 188. Our aim was a search for populations of variable stars. We derived light-curve solutions for six W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) eclipsing-binary systems and estimated their orbital parameters. The resulting distance to the W UMas is independent of the physical characteristics of the host cluster. We next determined the current best period–luminosity relations for contact binaries (CBs; scatter σ<0.10 mag). We conclude that CBs can be used as distance tracers with better than 5% uncertainty. We apply our new relations to the 102 CBs in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which yields a distance modulus of (m–M)V,0=18.41±0.20 mag.",
author = "{de Grijs}, Richard and Xiaodian Chen and Licai Deng",
year = "2017",
language = "English",
isbn = "9781583819067",
series = "Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series",
publisher = "Astronomical Society of the Pacific",
pages = "23--27",
editor = "Mickaelian, {A. M.} and Harutyunian, {H. A.} and Nikoghosyan, {E. H.}",
booktitle = "Non-Stable Universe: Energetic Resources, Activity Phenomena, and Evolutionary Processes",
note = "International Symposium on Non-Stable Universe: Energetic Resources, Activity Phenomena, and Evolutionary Processes ; Conference date: 19-09-2016 Through 23-09-2016",
}