Globular clusters and the distance to the Galactic center

The distance to the Galactic center is estimated from the space distribution of globular clusters. Simulations of the cluster distribution are constructed to account for the various biases in the observed sample due to extinction, sample incompleteness, geometric effects, and size-of-sample uncertainties. The resulting distance to the Galactic center is R(0) = 7.5 + or - 0.9 kpc, assuming Mv (RR) = +0.6 + or - 0.2 at an Fe/H abundance ratio of -1.6.