The dwarf spheroidal galaxy DDO 44: stellar populations and distance

We have ground-based and HST WFPC2 imaging of the nearby low surface bright ness dwarf spheroidal galaxy DDO 44. For the first time DDO 44 was resolved into stars. The resulting color-magnitude diagram for about 1290 stars sho w the red giant branch with a tip at I = 23.55 +/- 0.15, which yields the d istance D-MW = 3.2 +/- 0.2 Mpc consistent with membership of DDO 44 in the NGC 2403 group. The Linear separation of DDO 44 from NGC 2403 is 75 kpc on the sky and 30+/-450 kpc along the line of sight. The relationship between the dwarf galaxy's absolute magnitude, M-R(o) = -13.1, the central surface brightness, mu(R)(0) = 24.1 mag arcsec(-2), and the mean metallicity, [Fe/H ] = -1.7 dex follow the trend for other nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies. O ne globular cluster candidate has also been identified in DDO 44.