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We determine the mass of the black hole at the center of the spiral galaxyNGC 4258 by constructing axisymmetric dynamical models of the galaxy. Thesemodels are constrained by high spatial resolution imaging and long-slitspectroscopy of the nuclear region obtained with the {\em Hubble SpaceTelescope}, complemented by ground-based observations extending to largerradii. Our best mass estimate is $\MBH = (3.3 \pm 0.2) \times 10^7 \MSun $ fora distance of 7.28 Mpc (statistical errors only). This is within 15% of $(3.82\pm 0.01) \times 10^7 \MSun$, the mass determined from the kinematics ofwater masers (rescaled to the same distance) assuming they are in Keplerianrotation in a warped disk. The construction of accurate dynamical models of NGC4258 is somewhat compromised by an unresolved active nucleus and colorgradients, the latter caused by variations in the stellar population and/orobscuring dust. These problems are not present in the $\sim 30$ other blackhole mass determinations from stellar dynamics that have been published by usand other groups; thus, the relatively close agreement between the stellardynamical mass and the maser mass in NGC 4258 enhances our confidence in theblack hole masses determined in other galaxies from stellar dynamics usingsimilar methods and data of comparable quality.

A Stellar Dynamical Measurement of the Black Hole Mass in the Maser Galaxy NGC 4258