Potential of the Surface Brightness Fluctuation method to measure distances to dwarf ellipticals in nearby clusters

Abstract

The potential of the Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) method to determine distances to dwarf ellipticals in nearby clusters is investigated. We find that for the Fornax cluster, the SBF method yields reliable results down to very faint magnitudes, in our case down to M_V ~- 11 mag when observing for about 1 hour at good seeing with an 8m-class telescope in the I-filter. Comparison between real and simulated data for the Centaurus Cluster shows that our simulations do not overestimate the achievable S/N of the SBF method.

4 pages, 5 figures, conference proceedings of the JENAM 2002 GE-workshop. To be published by Kluwer (Astrophysics and Space Science Series)