CaltechAUTHORS
Published October 27, 1994 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

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

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Carnegie Observatories
  • 2. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 3. ROR icon Australian College of Theology
  • 4. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University
  • 5. ROR icon Space Telescope Science Institute
  • 6. ROR icon University of Arizona
  • 7. ROR icon Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
  • 8. ROR icon Carnegie Institution for Science
  • 9. ROR icon University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • 10. ROR icon Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • 11. ROR icon Royal Observatory in Greenwich
  • 12. ROR icon University of California, Santa Cruz

Abstract

Accurate distances to galaxies are critical for determining the present expansion rate of the Universe or Hubble constant (H_0). An important step in resolving the current uncertainty in H_0 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 H_0 = 80 ± 17 km s^(−1) Mpc^(−1). A comparable value of H_0 is also derived from the Coma cluster using independent estimates of its distance ratio relative to the Virgo cluster.

Additional Information

© 1994 Nature Publishing Group. Received 20 September; Accepted 26 September 1994. We sincerely thank the many scientists, engineers and astronauts who contributed to HST, making these observations possible. This research was supported by NASA, through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute (which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy), and by the NSF. This work has benefitted from the use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED).

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
58126
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20150609-123201158

Funding

NASA
Space Telescope Science Institute
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)
NSF

Dates

Created
2015-06-09
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
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Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)