A geometric distance to the galaxy NGC4258 from orbital motions in a nuclear gas disk | Zendy

J. R. Herrnstein | Zendy; J. M. Moran | Zendy; L. J. Greenhill | Zendy; P. J. Diamond | Zendy; Makoto Inoue | Zendy; Naomasa Nakai | Zendy; Makoto Miyoshi | Zendy; C. Henkel | Zendy; Adam G. Riess | Zendy

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A geometric distance to the galaxy NGC4258 from orbital motions in a nuclear gas disk

Author(s) -

J. R. Herrnstein,

J. M. Moran,

L. J. Greenhill,

P. J. Diamond,

Makoto Inoue,

Naomasa Nakai,

Makoto Miyoshi,

C. Henkel,

Adam G. Riess

Publication year - 1999

Publication title -

nature

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 15.993

H-Index - 1226

eISSN - 1476-4687

pISSN - 0028-0836

DOI - 10.1038/22972

Subject(s) - galaxy , physics , astrophysics , cosmic distance ladder , parallax , absolute magnitude , astronomy , redshift

The water maser in the mildly active nucleus in the nearby galaxy NGC4258traces a thin, nearly edge-on, subparsec-scale Keplerian disk. Using thetechnique of very long baseline interferometry, we have detected the propermotions of these masers as they sweep in front of the central black hole at anorbital velocity of about 1100 km/s. The average maser proper motion of 31.5microarcseconds per year is used in conjunction with the observed accelerationof the masers to derive a purely geometric distance to the galaxy of 7.2 +- 0.3Mpc. This is the most precise extragalactic distance measured to date, and,being independent of all other distance indicators, is likely to play animportant role in calibrating the extragalactic distance scale.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Natur

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