LOCAL CALIBRATORS FOR THE INFRARED TULLY-FISHER RELATION

A calibration for the infrared Tully-Fisher relation is presented where H-0.5abs = -10.26(log ΔV-2.5) - 21.02. The distances entering this calibration are based on recent data for Cepheids in five nearby late-type galaxies. The dispersion of the infrared Tully-Fisher relation derived from these calibrators is very low, formally amounting to only ±0.15 mag. Given that the number of calibrating galaxies is still small, this dispersion is likely to be fortuitously low. However, allowing for the present small number statistics and for plausible uncertainties in both the published line widths and Cepheid-based distance determinations, the dispersion calculated here for the calibrators is consistent with recent CCD observations of galaxies in distant clusters where a dispersion of less than ±0.3 mag is quoted.