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

Nature volume 371, pages 757–762 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, California, 91101, USA

    Wendy L. Freedman & Robert Hill

  2. NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA

    Barry F. Madore

  3. Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Private Bag, Weston Creek Post Office ACT 2611, Sydney, Australia

    Jeremy R. Mould

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bloomberg 501, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA

    Laura Ferrarese & Holland Ford

  5. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

    Robert C. Kennicutt Jr

  6. Space Telescope Science Institute, Homewood Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA

    Laura Ferrarese, Abhijit Saha & Holland Ford

  7. Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, British Columbia, V8X4M6, Canada

    Peter B. Stetson

  8. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road North West, Washington DC, 20015, USA

    John A. Graham

  9. Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 North Charter Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    John G. Hoessel

  10. Harvard-Smithsonian, Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    John Huchra

  11. Royal Greenwich Observatory, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK

    Shaun M. Hughes

  12. Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Garth D. Illingworth

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  1. Wendy L. Freedman
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  7. Abhijit Saha
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Freedman, W., Madore, B., Mould, J. et al. Distance to the Virgo cluster galaxy M100 from Hubble Space Telescope observations of Cepheids. Nature 371, 757–762 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/371757a0

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