A 15 square arcmin field in NGC 300 was observed through 4 filters with the CTIO 4 m prime focus CCD. Two of the filters were broad-band V and I and the other two isolated TiO (λ7800) and CN (λ8100). With this filter set, it is possible to unambiguously distinguish late-type carbon stars from M stars. Sixteen late-type C stars and 25 cool M stars were discovered in the NGC 300 field. Two of the latter stars may lie in the foreground. The ratio of C to M stars indicates a modestly metal-deficient system ([Fe/H] = -0.5). A new distance modulus to NGC 300 is derived using carbon stars, and the value (m-M)₀ = 25.87 is significantly smaller than most in the current literature. The full asymptotic giant branch (AGB) luminosity function of the field observed is obtained and compared with that for the LMC.
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Richer et al. (1985) studied this question.