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| Paper: |
Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance to NGC 3379 |
| Volume: |
92, Formation of the Galactic Halo. . . . Inside and Out |
| Page: |
548 |
| Authors: |
Sakai, Shoko; Freedman, Wendy L.; Madore, Barry F. |
| Abstract: |
We report the detection of individually resolved stars in NGC 3379, a giant elliptical galaxy in the Leo I Group. The bright end of its stellar luminosity function has a logarithmic slope of 0.6 dex/mag, which is fully consistent with these stars being Population II red giants. Identifying an abrupt discontinuity in the luminosity function at I = 26.29 +/- 0.10 mag with the tip of the first--ascent red giant branch and adopting M_I (TRGB) = -4.0 +/- 0.1 mag, we obtain the distance modulus of 30.29 +/- 0.14 mag, corresponding to a linear distance to NGC 3379 of 11.4 +/- 0.8 Mpc. |
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