Distances to PHANGS Galaxies: New Tip of the Red Giant Branch Measurements and Adopted Distances

PHANGS-HST is an ultraviolet-optical imaging survey of 38 spiral galaxies within ∼20 Mpc. Combined with the PHANGS-ALMA, PHANGS-MUSE surveys and other multiwavelength data, the dataset will provide an unprecedented look into the connections between young stars, H ii regions, and cold molecular gas in these nearby star-forming galaxies. Accurate distances are needed to transform measured observables into physical parameters (e.g., brightness to luminosity, angular to physical sizes of molecular clouds, star clusters and associations). PHANGS-HST has obtained parallel ACS imaging of the galaxy halos in the F606W and F814W bands. Where possible, we use these parallel fields to derive tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) distances to these galaxies. In this paper, we present TRGB distances for 11 galaxies from ∼4 to ∼15 Mpc, based on the first year of PHANGS-HST observations. Five of these represent the first published TRGB distance measurements (IC 5332, NGC 2835, NGC 4298, NGC 4321, and NGC 4328), and eight of which are the best available distances to these targets. We also provide a compilation of distances for the 118 galaxies in the full PHANGS sample, which have been adopted for the first PHANGS-ALMA public data release.

HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMISSION 37 SCIENCE RESULTS

It is widely accepted that stars do not form in isolation but result from the fragmentation of molecular clouds, which in turn leads to star cluster formation. Over time, clusters dissolve or are destroyed by interactions with molecular clouds or tidal stripping, and their members become part of the general field population. Star clusters are thus among the basic building blocks of galaxies. In turn, star cluster populations, from young associations and open clusters to old globulars, are powerful tracers of the formation, assembly, and evolutionary history of their parent galaxies. Although their importance (e.g., in mapping out the Milky Way) had been recognised for decades, major progress in this area has only become possible in recent years, both for Galactic and extragalactic cluster populations. Star clusters are the observational foundation for stellar astrophysics and evolution, provide essential tracers of galactic structure, and are unique stellar dynamical environments. Star formation, stellar structure, stellar evolution, and stellar nucleosynthesis continue to benefit and improve tremendously from the study of these systems. Additionally, fundamental quantities such as the initial mass function can be successfully derived from modelling either the Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams or the integrated velocity structures of, respectively, resolved and unresolved clusters and cluster populations. Star cluster studies thus span the fields of Galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, while heavily affecting our detailed understanding of the process of star formation in dense environments. This report highlights science results of the last decade in the major fields covered by IAU Commission 37: Star clusters and associations. Instead of focusing on the business meeting - the out-going president presentation can be found here:http://www.sc.eso.org/gcarraro/splinter2015.pdf- this legacy report contains highlights of the most important scientific achievements in the Commission science area, compiled by 5 well expert members.

DIVISION VII: COMMISSION 37: STAR CLUSTERS AND ASSOCIATIONS

The business session for Commission 37 was held on 24 August 2012 at the IAU General Assembly in Beijing. The meeting was attended by about a dozen members of our Comission, including President Carraro, VP de Grijs and several committee members. We introduced ourselves and then went through a powerpoint presentation first prepared by outgoing President Elmegreen and revised by incoming President Carraro. The contents of the powerpoint presentation are given in this summary.

COMMISSION 37: STAR CLUSTERS AND ASSOCIATIONS

The business session for Commission 37 was held on 11 August 2009 at the IAU General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro. The meeting was attended by about a dozen members of our Comission, including President Elmegreen, VP Carraro and several committee members. We introduced ourselves and then went through a powerpoint presentation first prepared by outgoing President Hatzidimitriou and revised by incoming President Elmegreen. The contents of the powerpoint presentation are given in this summary.

COMMISSION 37: STAR CLUSTERS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Star clusters are valuable tools for theoretical and observational astronomy across a wide range of disciplines from cosmology to stellar spectroscopy. For example, properties of globular clusters are used to constrain stellar evolutionary models, nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution, as well as the star formation and assembly histories of galaxies and the distribution of dark matter in present-day galaxies. Open clusters are widely used as stellar laboratories for the study of specific stellar phenomena (e.g., various emission-line stars, pulsating pre-MS stars, magnetic massive stars, binarity, stellar rotation, etc.). They also provide observational constraints on models of massive star evolution and of Galactic disk formation and chemical evolution.