Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21934613d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #346.13
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We present the recent discovery of water masers in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and describe how precise astrometry can be used to measure the proper motion of M31. The proper motions of the maser complexes will show three signatures on the sky:
(1) a bulk proper motion due to the transverse velocity of M31 on the sky, providing the unknown components of its full three-dimensional velocity,
(2) a proper rotation, which can provide a geometric distance measurement to M31, limited primarily by uncertainties in the rotation profile of M31 and peculiar maser motions, and
(3) an apparent divergence caused by the 300 km/s approach of M31 toward the observer, which can provide an independent geometric distance measurement.
These proper motion measurements will jointly address the dark matter content and future evolution of the Local Group of galaxies including whether or not the Local Group forms a bound system and whether (or when) M31 and the Milky Way will collide and merge.
This research is supported by NSF grant AST-1109078.
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