Hipparcos calibration of the peak brightness of four SNe Ia and the value of Ho

P. Lanoix

Published 1997-12-10Version 1

Hipparcos geometrical parallaxes allowed us to calibrate the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation and to compute the true distance moduli of 17 galaxies. Among these 17 galaxies, we selected those which generated type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia). We found NGC 5253, parent galaxy of 1895B and 1972E, IC 4182 and NGC 4536 parents of 1937C and 1981B, respectively. We used the available B-band photometry to determine the peak brightness of these four SNe Ia. We obtained <M_{B}(MAX)> = -19.65 \pm 0.09. Then, we built a sample of 57 SNe Ia in order to plot the Hubble diagram and determine its zero-point. Our result (ZP_{B} = -3.16 \pm 0.10) is in agreement with other determinations and allows us to derive the following Hubble constant : Ho = 50 \pm 3 (internal) km.s^-1.Mpc^-1.