  The Hubble Space Telescope is being used to measure accurate Cepheid
distances to nearby galaxies with the ultimate aim of determining the Hubble
constant, H_0. For the first time, it has become feasible to use Cepheid
variables to derive a distance to a galaxy in the southern hemisphere cluster
of Fornax. Based on the discovery of 37 Cepheids in the Fornax galaxy NGC 1365,
a distance to this galaxy of 18.6 +/- 0.6 Mpc (statistical error only) is
obtained. This distance leads to a value of H_0 = 70 +/- 7 (random) +/- 18
(systematic) km/sec/Mpc in good agreement with estimates of the Hubble constant
further afield.
