The distance to the Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxy from the red giant branch tip
Abstract
We present V and I photometry of a 9.4 × 9.4arcmin2 field centred on the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I. The I magnitude of the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) is robustly estimated from two different data sets (ITRGB= 17.97+0.05-0.03). From this estimate, adopting [M/H]~=-1.2 from the comparison of RGB stars with Galactic templates, we obtain a distance modulus (m-M)0= 22.02 +/- 0.13, corresponding to a distance D= 254+16-19 kpc.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08226.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0407444
- Bibcode:
- 2004MNRAS.354..708B
- Keywords:
-
- stars: Population II;
- galaxies: distances and redshifts;
- Local Group;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 5 figures, Fig. 1 and 2 provided in low resolution version. Latex. Accepted for publication by MNRAS