The luminosities and distance scales of type II Cepheid and RR Lyrae variables

Infrared and optical absolute magnitudes are derived for the type II Cepheids Pav and VY Pyx using revised Hipparcos parallaxes and for Pav, V553 Cen and SW Tau from pulsational parallaxes. Revised Hipparcos and HST parallaxes for RR Lyrae agree satisfactorily and are combined in deriving absolute magnitudes. Phase-corrected J, H and K s mags are given for 142 Hipparcos RR Lyraes based on Two-Micron All-Sky Survey observations. Pulsation and trigonometrical parallaxes for classical Cepheids are compared to establish the best value for the projection factor (p) used in pulsational analyses.