Is there really a supermassive black hole in M87?
- 21 August 1997
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 289 (4) , L21-L25
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/289.4.l21
Abstract
We present the first HST long-slit spectrum of a gaseous disc around a candidate supermassive black hole. The results of this study on the kinematics of the gaseous disc in M87 are a considerable improvement in both spatial resolution and accuracy over previous observations, and require a projected mass of MBH(sin i)2 = (2.0 ± 0.5) x 109 M⊙ (mbh = 3.2 x 109 M⊙ for a disc inclination i = 52°) concentrated within a sphere of radius less than 0.05 arcsec (3.5 pc) to explain the observed rotation curve. The kinematics of the ionized gas are well described by a thin disc in Keplerian motion. A lower limit to the mass-to-light ratio of this region is M/Lv ≃ 110, significantly strengthening the claim that this mass is due to the presence of a central black hole in M87.Keywords
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