Median Statistics Estimate of the Distance to the Galactic Center

Abstract

We show that error distributions of a compilation of 28 recent independent measurements of the distance from the Sun to the Galactic center, $R_0$, are wider than a standard Gaussian and best fit by an $n=4$ Student's $t$ probability density function. Given this non-Gaussianity, the results of our median statistics analysis, summarized as $R_0=8.0\pm 0.3$ kpc ($2\sigma$ error), probably provides the most reliable estimate of $R_0$.

arXiv comment12 pages. V2 has additional discussions on measurement independence and now includes an appendix to derive a more appropriate error distribution for weighted mean statistics analysis, but conclusion is unchanged. Accepted to PASP

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