| Abstract | New CCD photometry to a limit B = 24.3 is presented for a sample of globular clusters aound NGC 3377, an intermediate-size elliptical in the Leo group. Assuming that the luminosity function of its globular clusters follows the same log-normal form as in other galaxies, we derive a peak frequency level (turnover magnitude) of B_0_ = 23.35 +/- 0.40 for a combined sample of clusters in NGC 3377 and NGC 3379. Matching this to the globular clusters in the Milky Way then gives a distance modulus (m - M)_B_ (Leo) = 30.2, or d = (10.7 +/- 2.2) Mpc, in good agreement with other recent distance-scale methods. The clusters around NGC 3377 follow a highly ellipsoidal space distribution; two different tests show that their distribution is at least as flattened as the E6 shape of the galaxy itself. |
