Distance to the Virgo cluster galaxy M100 from Hubble Space Telescope observations of Cepheids

Accurate distances to galaxies are critical for determining the present expansion rate of the Universe or Hubble constant (H0). An important step in resolving the current uncertainty in H0 is the measurement of the distance to the Virgo cluster of galaxies. New observations using the Hubble Space Telescope yield a distance of 17.1 ± 1.8 Mpc to the Virgo cluster galaxy M100. This distance leads to a value of H0 = 80 ± 17 km s−1 Mpc−1. A comparable value of H0 is also derived from the Coma cluster using independent estimates of its distance ratio relative to the Virgo cluster.

[1]  William H. Press,et al.  The Cosmological constant , 1992 .

[2]  Gerard A. Luppino,et al.  Observations of surface-brightness fluctuations in Virgo , 1990 .

[3]  H. J. Rood,et al.  The distance to the Coma cluster using the B-band Tully-Fisher relation , 1991 .

[4]  R. Kirshner,et al.  Expanding Photospheres of Type II Supernovae and the Extragalactic Distance Scale , 1992, astro-ph/9204004.

[5]  M. Phillips,et al.  The Absolute Magnitudes of Type IA Supernovae , 1993 .

[6]  A. Sandage,et al.  The infall velocity toward Virgo, the Hubble constant, and a search for motion toward the microwave background , 1985 .

[7]  O. Lahav,et al.  Cosmological deductions from the alignment of local gravity and motion , 1989 .

[8]  Wendy L. Freedman,et al.  The Tip of the Red Giant Branch as a Distance Indicator for Resolved Galaxies , 1993 .

[9]  M. Fukugita,et al.  The cosmic distance scale and the Hubble constant , 1993, Nature.

[10]  Garth D. Illingworth,et al.  The Hubble Space Telescope Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project. 1: The discovery of Cepheids and a new distance to M81 , 1994 .

[11]  R. Racine,et al.  The Hubble constant and Virgo cluster distance from observations of Cepheid variables , 1994, Nature.

[12]  M. Pierce.  Luminosity--Line-Width Relations and the Extragalactic Distance Scale. II. A Comparison with Types IA and II Supernovae , 1994 .

[13]  A. Saha,et al.  Discovery of Cepheids in IC 4182: Absolute peak brightness of SN IA 1937C and the value of H[SUB]0[/SUB] , 1994 .

[14]  J. Mould,et al.  Peculiar Velocities of Clusters in the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster , 1992 .

[15]  John L. Tonry,et al.  A new technique for measuring extragalactic distances , 1988 .

[16]  S. O. Kepler,et al.  An independent method for determining the age of the universe , 1987 .

[17]  A. Saha,et al.  RR Lyrae Stars in Local Group Galaxies. IV. IC 1613 , 1992 .

[18]  R. Kirshner,et al.  Properties of the SN 1987A Circumstellar Ring and the Distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud , 1991 .

[19]  E. Hubble.  NGC 6822, a remote stellar system. , 1925 .

[20]  Robin Ciardullo,et al.  Planetary nebulae as standard candles. V - The distance to the Virgo Cluster , 1990 .

[21]  A. Sandage,et al.  The Redshift-Distance Relation. VII Absolute Magnitudes on the First Three Ranked Cluster Galaxies as Functions of Cluster Richness and Bautz-Morgan Cluster Type: the Effect of q_{o} , 1973 .

[22]  G. Vaucouleurs.  The extragalactic distance scale. VIII: A comparison of distance scales , 1993 .

[23]  Michael S. Turner,et al.  The Early Universe , 1990 .

[24]  T. Lauer,et al.  The Hubble flow from brightest cluster galaxies , 1992 .

[25]  E. Hubble.  A spiral nebula as a stellar system: Messier 33. , 1926 .

[26]  Mark E. Cornell,et al.  A distance scale from the infrared magnitude/H I velocity-width relations. V - Distance moduli to 10 galaxy clusters, and positive detection of bulk supercluster motion toward the microwave anisotropy , 1986 .

[27]  S. Faber,et al.  A large-scale streaming motion in the local universe. , 1987 .

[28]  A. Sandage.  Globular cluster ages determined from the Oosterhoff period−metallicity effect using oxygen-enhanced isochrones. III , 1993 .

[29]  Nicholas B. Suntzeff,et al.  The distances to five Type II supernovae using the expanding photosphere method, and the value of H(sub 0) , 1994 .

[30]  Wendy L. Freedman,et al.  THE CEPHEID DISTANCE SCALE , 1991 .

[31]  Allan Sandage,et al.  The Hubble diagram in V for supernovae of Type Ia and the value of H(0) therefrom , 1993 .

[32]  Sidney van den Bergh,et al.  The Extragalactic Distance Scale. , 1960 .

[33]  S. Bergh,et al.  Observations of RR Lyrae Stars in the Halo of M31 , 1987 .

[34]  A. Sandage.  H 0 = 43 plus or minus 11 KM S -1 MPC -1 Based on Angular Diameters of High-Luminosity Field Spiral Galaxies , 1993 .

[35]  R. Davies,et al.  A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SELECTED TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING EXTRAGALACTIC DISTANCES , 1992 .

[36]  R. Cen,et al.  The relation of local measures of Hubble's constant to its global value , 1992 .

[37]  Allan Sandage,et al.  Atlas of Galaxies Useful for Measuring the Cosmological Distance Scale , 1988 .

[38]  Sidney van den Bergh.  THE HUBBLE PARAMETER , 1992 .

[39]  M. Pierce,et al.  Luminosity-line width relations and the extragalactic distance scale. I - Absolute calibration , 1992 .

[40]  J. Nemec,et al.  New perspectives on stellar pulsation and pulsating variable stars : proceedings of IAU Colloquium no. 139, Victoria, British Columbia, 15-18 July 1992 , 1993 .

[41]  R. Brent Tully,et al.  Distances to the Virgo and Ursa Major clusters and a determination of H0 , 1988 .