Abstract

We have used the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the Bubble Space Telescope to obtain deep photometry of the NGC 300 spiral galaxy in the Sculptor group. The results have been used to derive an accurate distance determination based on the tip of the red giant branch distance estimator. Both edge-detection and maximum likelihood methods have been applied to derive a distance modulus (m - M)0 = 26.30 ± 0.03 ± 0.12 for edge detection and (m - M)0 = 26.36 ± 0.02 ± 0.12 for maximum likelihood. These results are fully consistent with the recent distance estimate derived from near-IR photometry of Cepheids variable stars in the context of the Araucaria project, (m - M)0 = 26.37 ± 0.05 ± 0.03 (Gieren and coworkers). ©, 2006. The American Astronomical Society, All rights reserved.