The distance to the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

Abstract

A large multicolour, wide-field photometric database of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy has been analysed using three different methods to provide revised distance estimates based on stellar populations in different age intervals. The distance to Fornax was obtained from the Tip of the Red Giant Branch measured by a new method, and using the luminosity of Horizontal Branch stars and Red Clump stars correc ted for stellar population effects. Assuming a reddening $E(B-V)=0.02$, the following distance moduli were derived: $(m-M{)}_0=20.71\pm 0.07$ based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch, $(m-M{)}_0=20.72\pm 0.06$ from the level of the Horizontal Branch, and $(m-M{)}_0=20.73\pm 0.09$ using the Red Clump method. The weighted mean distance modulus to Fornax is $(m-M{)}_0=20.72\pm 0.04$. All these measurements agree within the errors, and are fully consistent with previous determinations and with the distance measurements obtained in a companion paper from near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams.

Accepted for publication on Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

References in corpus (2)

• The DART imaging and CaT survey of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• Near-infrared observations of the Fornax dwarf galaxy. I. The red giant branch

Cited by in corpus (9)

• A lower bound on the mass of Dark Matter particles
• Scale dependence of cosmological backreaction
• The red clump absolute magnitude based on revised Hipparcos parallaxes
• A Deep Survey of the Fornax dSph I: Star Formation History
• AGB Stars in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• Variable stars in the Fornax dSph Galaxy. II. Pulsating stars below the horizontal branch
• The expansion field: The value of H_0
• The evolved stars of Leo II dSph galaxy from near-infrared UKIRT/WFCAM observations
• Is dark energy an effect of averaging?