Authors: Mikaela Cowles, Joseph Jensen
Mentors: Joseph Jensen
Insitution: Utah Valley University
We are developing a newly calibrated distance ladder based on surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) to decrease systematic uncertainties in the current measurement of the Hubble Constant. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of 14 nearby elliptical galaxies are now being observed to measure a new zero point for SBF distances independent of Cepheids. We have recently acquired 69 images of massive early-type galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). These HST distances have doubled the number of galaxy distances measured using SBF and will be combined with past SBF surveys to calculate the Hubble Constant to help resolve the Hubble tension. These distances will be added to the Cosmicflows-4 database to help map the mass distribution in the local universe. This project will continue with the allocation of an additional 123 HST orbits, from which we expect to add ~40 galaxies in 2024.