Infrared Tip of the Red Giant Branch and Distances to the Maffei/IC 342
  Group
  In this paper, we extend the use of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB)
method to near-infrared wavelengths from previously-used $I$-band, using the
\textit{Hubble Space Telescope (HST)} Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Upon
calibration of a color dependency of the TRGB magnitude, the IR TRGB yields a
random uncertainty of $\sim 5%$ in relative distance. The IR TRGB methodology
has an advantage over the previously-used ACS $F606W$ and $F814W$ filter set
for galaxies that suffer from severe extinction. Using the IR TRGB methodology,
we obtain distances toward three principal galaxies in the Maffei/IC 342
complex, which are located at low Galactic latitudes. New distance estimates
using the TRGB method are 3.45$^{+0.13}_{-0.13}$ Mpc for IC 342,
3.37$^{+0.32}_{-0.23}$ Mpc for Maffei 1 and 3.52$^{+0.32}_{-0.30}$ Mpc for
Maffei 2. The uncertainties are dominated by uncertain extinction, especially
for Maffei 1 and Maffei 2. Our IR calibration demonstrates the viability of the
TRGB methodology for observations with the \textit{James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST)}.
