Abstract: |
I will talk about distance measurements using Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), focusing on the first release of the Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP) low-redshift dataset. The analysis of densely-sampled, high-precision, optical and near-infrared light curves suggests that SNe Ia can provide distances with a dispersion *as low as 3%--4%*. Along the path to that result, I will discuss the important issues of determining SN colors and host-galaxy extinction. The luminosity calibration and standard-candle properties of SNe Ia in the near-infrared will also be addressed. |