The Distance and Motion of the Maffei Group

Abstract

It has recently been suggested that the nearby galaxies Maffei 1 and 2 are further in distance than previously thought, such that they no longer are members of the same galaxy group as IC 342. We reanalyze near-infrared photometry from the Hubble Space Telescope, and find a distance to Maffei 2 of $5.73\pm 0.40$ Mpc. With this distance, the Maffei Group lies 2.5 Mpc behind the IC 342 Group and has a peculiar velocity toward the Local Group of $-128\pm 33$ km/s. The negative peculiar velocities of both of these distinct galaxy groups are likely the manifestation of void expansion from the direction of Perseus-Pisces.

6 pages, 2 figures, Accepted to ApJL (replacement adjusts/fixes luminosities in table 1)