Multi-object spectroscopic observations of blue supergiants in NGC 3621 , a spiral galaxy at a distance of 6.7 Mpc , carried out with the ESO VLT and FORS are presented .
We demonstrate the feasibility of quantitative stellar spectroscopy at distances approaching a ten-fold increase over previous investigations by determining chemical composition , stellar parameters , reddening , extinction and wind properties of one of our targets , a supergiant of spectral type A1 Ia located in the outskirts of NGC 3621 .
The metallicity ( determined from iron group elements ) is reduced by a factor of two relative to the sun in qualitative agreement with results from previous abundance studies based on H II region oxygen emission lines .
Reddening and extinction are E ( B - V ) = 0.12 and A _ { V } = 0.37 , respectively , mostly caused by the galactic foreground .
Comparing stellar wind momentum and absolute V magnitude with galactic and M31 counterparts we confirm the potential of the wind momentum-luminosity relationship as an alternative tool to estimate extragalactic distances .