The nature of bright giants in the halo of NGC 253 and implications for the distance scale

The 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope has been used to obtain dep V and I CCD images of a field in the halo of NGC 253. A larger number of stellar objects, far in excess of that expected from background galaxies and foreground stars, have been detected fainter than I = 22.5 and V = 24.0, and these are identified as bright giants in the halo of NGC 253. The luminosities of the brightest objects in the field are similar to those of asymptotic giant branch stars in Galactic globular clusters. If these luminous stars are assumed to be similar to the brightest giants in the outer halo of M31, then the distance modulus of NGC 253 is equal to or less than 26.8. This is slightly lower than the canonical value derived from other distance indicators. 32 refs