The detection of bright asymptotic giant branch stars in the nearby elliptical galaxy Maffei 1

We have used the adaptive optics system on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telesco pe to study a field 6' from the center of the heavily obscured elliptical g alaxy Maffei 1. Our near diffraction-limited H and K' images reveal an exce ss population of objects with respect to a background field, and we conclud e that the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) tip in Maffei 1 occurs at K = 20 /- 0.25. Assuming that stars at the AGB tip in Maffei 1 have the same intri nsic luminosity as those in the bulge of M31, then the actual distance modu lus of Maffei 1 is 28.2 +/- 0.3 if A(V) = 5.1, which corresponds to a dista nce of 4.4(-0.5)(+0.6) Mpc. This is in excellent agreement with the distanc e estimated from surface brightness fluctuations in the infrared and confir ms that Maffei 1 is too distant to affect the dynamics of the Local Group s ignificantly.