The Extragalactic Distance Database: The Color-Magnitude Diagrams/Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance Catalog

The Extragalactic Distance Database (EDD) was created as a repository for high-quality, redshift-independent distances. A key component of EDD is the Color-Magnitude Diagrams/Tip of the Red Giant Branch (CMDs/TRGB) catalog, which provides information on the stellar content of nearby galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Here we provide a decadal update to this catalog, which has now doubled in size to over 500 galaxies. We highlight the additions to our data reduction and analysis techniques and provide examples of the science that has been made possible with this large data set. We find the TRGB to be a reliable measure for distance, and we aim to extend its distance coverage with HST to every galaxy within 10 Mpc. In the near future, the combination of the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will dramatically increase the number of targets within our grasp.

Automated summary

The Extragalactic Distance Database (EDD) serves as a repository for high-quality, redshift-independent distances, with its CMDs/TRGB catalog doubling in size to over 500 galaxies in the past decade. Researchers have found the TRGB to be a reliable measure for distance and aim to extend its coverage to every galaxy within 10 Mpc. The future combination of the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to significantly increase the number of observable targets.