# THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 475:399[–]413, 1997 February 1 # © 1997. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in # U.S.A. # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Up: Issue Table of Contents # Go to: Search Page | Previous Article | Next Article # Other formats: HTML (small files) | PDF (691kb) # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # The SBF Survey of Galaxy Distances. I. Sample Selection, Photometric # Calibration, and the Hubble Constant 1 # # JOHN L. TONRY 2 AND JOHN P. BLAKESLEE 2 # # Physics Department, Room 6-204, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139; # jt@antares.mit.edu, john@arneb.mit.edu # # EDWARD A. AJHAR 2 # # Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, # P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, AZ 85726; ajhar@noao.edu # # AND # # ALAN DRESSLER # # Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101; # dressler@omega.ociw.edu # # Received 1996 June 24; accepted 1996 August 26 # # ABSTRACT # # We describe a program of surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) # measurements for determining galaxy distances. This paper presents the # photometric calibration of our sample and of SBF in general. Basing our zero # point on observations of Cepheid variable stars, we find that the absolute # SBF magnitude in the Kron-Cousins I band correlates well with the mean (V - # I)0 color of a galaxy according to # for 1.0 < (V - I) < 1.3. This agrees well with theoretical estimates from # stellar population models. # # TABLE 5 # SBF DISTANCES TO GROUPS # # (m - # Group Example R.A. decl. vave N M) ± d ± # # Local Grp ___ N0224 10.0 41.0 -300 2 24.43 0.08 0.77 0.03 # M81____ N3031 147.9 69.3 -40 2 27.78 0.08 3.6 0.2 # Cen_A____ N5128 200.0 -39.0 550 3 28.03 0.10 4.0 0.2 # N1023____ N1023 37.0 35.0 650 4 29.91 0.09 9.6 0.4 # Leo_I____ N3379 161.3 12.8 900 5 30.14 0.06 10.7 0.3 # N7331____ N7331 338.7 34.2 800 2 30.39 0.10 12.0 0.6 # UMa____ N3928 180.0 47.0 900 5 30.76 0.09 14.2 0.6 # # Coma I ___ N4278 184.4 29.6 1000 3 30.95 0.08 15.5 0.6 # # Coma II ___ N4494 187.2 26.1 1350 3 31.01 0.08 15.9 0.6 # # Virgo ___ N4486 187.1 12.7 1150 27 31.03 0.05 16.1 0.4 # # Dorado ___ N1549 63.7 -55.7 1300 6 31.04 0.06 16.1 0.5 # # Fornax ___ N1399 54.1 -35.6 1400 26 31.23 0.06 17.6 0.5 # # NOTE.[—] Columns give group name, sample member, R.A. and decl. # (B1950), mean heliocentric velocity, number of SBF distances, SBF distance # modulus and error, and SBF distance (Mpc) and error. # # Image of typeset table | Discussion in text # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Up: Issue Table of Contents # Go to: Top of This Article | Search Page | Previous Article | Next Article # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------