Distance to NGC 253 based on the planetary nebula luminosity function

We identify a sample of 14 planetary nebulae in the nearby starburst disc galaxy NGC 253, using broad- and narrow-band imaging. A simple model of the stellar and dust layers in the galaxy shows that planetary nebula magnitudes are not statistically affected much by extinction. The luminosity function of the planetary nebulae is fitted with models accounting for dust, which leads to a distance to NGC 253 of mu(0)= 27.62(-0.26)(+0.16) mag (d= 3.34(-0.38)(+0.26) Mpc). This new estimate is found to be in agreement with the few existing distance estimates for this galaxy when they are all set to a common Large Magellanic Cloud distance of 18.50 mag. A weighted average of the most reliable distance estimates yields a distance of mu(0)= 27.7 +/- 0.2 mag (d= 3.5 +/- 0.2 Mpc).