Evidence for a supermassive object in the nucleus of the galaxy M87 from SIT and CCD area photometry

Details Evidence for a supermassive object in the nucleus of the galaxy M87 from SIT and CCD area photometry Evidence for a supermassive object in the nucleus of the galaxy M87 from SIT and CCD area photometry

May 1978

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1978apj...221..721y&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 221, May 1, 1978, p. 721-730.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

233

Astronomical Photometry, Elliptical Galaxies, Galactic Nuclei, Luminous Intensity, Radio Galaxies, Astronomical Models, Black Holes (Astronomy), Galactic Structure, Stellar Mass, Telescopes

Scientific paper

Results are presented for broadband three-color (BVR) photometric observations of the peculiar elliptical radio galaxy M87, which were obtained with digital two-dimensional SIT and CCD detector systems on the Palomar 60-in. and 200-in. telescopes. The observations and the reduction procedures for the digital data are outlined, the luminosity profile of M87 is given, and a nuclear luminosity spike is found to be centered within 0.02 arcsec of the center of M87. Attempts are made to fit various theoretical models to the luminosity profile, and a satisfactory fit is obtained between the observed profile and a model involving a massive black hole in the galactic nucleus. A model-independent dynamical analysis of the central regions is performed which indicates that the nucleus of M87 contains a supermassive object of about 5 billion solar masses with a radius of no more than 100 pc and an M/L ratio of at least 60. The possible nature of this object is considered, and it is concluded that M87 is probably the most plausible candidate for a massive black hole in a galactic nucleus.

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