H0 measurement from VLT deep I-band surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 564 and NGC 7619

We have measured the Hubble constant H₀ in NGC 564 at cz ~ 5800 km s^-1 and in NGC 7619 at cz ~ 3700 km s^-1 with deep I-band Surface Brightness Fluctuation distance measurements at the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). We obtain H₀ = 70 +/- 7 +/- 6 km s^-1/Mpc for NGC 564 and H₀ = 68 +/- 6 +/- 6 for NGC 7619. The actual SBF sample used for the measurement of H₀ in the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale (Freedman et al. 2001) amounts to six galaxies. When we combine the measurements from this work with our previous VLT I-band SBF distance measurement in IC 4296 (Mei et al. 2000), we obtain: H₀ = 68 +/- 5 +/- 6 km s^-1/Mpc. When we add the Freedman et al. (2001) SBF sample, we obtain H₀ = 71 +/- 4 +/- 6 km s^-1/Mpc.

Based on observations performed at the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile ESO program No 66.A-0361.