NGC 1560 BVRI CCD photometry

The total reddening, including both foreground and internal reddening, is estimated from the mean color of the blue plume stars, to be E(B-V)=0.40+/-0.10mag, whereas the foreground reddening based on the H I column density and faint galaxy counts is E(B-V)=0.16mag. Combining our results with those in the literature, we have obtained distance estimates using four methods: brightest blue stars [(m-M)_0_=27.11mag], brightest red stars [(m-M)_0_=27.02mag], B-band Tully-Fisher relation [(m-M)_0_=26.96mag], and H-band Tully-Fisher relation [(m-M)_0_=26.86mag].

These four estimates agree very well. Taking the average of these four estimates, we obtain a value for the true distance modulus to NGC 1560, (m-M)_0_=27.0+/-0.1mag, corresponding to a distance of 2.5+/-0.1Mpc.