Accurate distances to nearby massive stars with the new reduction of the Hipparcos raw data

Understand

We use the new reduction of the Hipparcos data (van Leeuwen 2007) and a self-consistent distance determination technique for Lutz-Kelker limited samples to obtain distances to the massive stars in the solar vicinity.

• The distance uncertainties for the nearest massive stars have been substantially reduced with respect to those derived from the old Hipparcos reduction.
• In two cases (gamma2 Vel and theta2 Ori A) we have been able to verify that the new values are in good agreement with recent determinations with alternative methods.
• We also derive new values for the vertical displacement of the Sun with respect to the Galactic Plane and for the scale height of the thin disk from the spatial distribution of massive stars around us.