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Mrk 1419 - a new distance determination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

C. M. Violette Impellizzeri ,
James A. Braatz ,
Cheng-Yu Kuo ,
Mark J. Reid ,
K. Y. Lo ,
Christian Henkel  and
James J. Condon
C. M. Violette Impellizzeri
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, USA email: vimpelli@alma.cl Joint Alma Observatory, Alónso de Cordova, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
James A. Braatz
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, USA email: vimpelli@alma.cl
Cheng-Yu Kuo
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Mark J. Reid
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, USA
K. Y. Lo
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, USA email: vimpelli@alma.cl
Christian Henkel
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
James J. Condon
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, USA email: vimpelli@alma.cl
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Abstract

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Water vapor megamasers from the center of active galaxies provide a powerful tool to trace accretion disks at sub-parsec resolution and, through an entirely geometrical method, measure direct distances to galaxies up to 200 Mpc. The Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP) is formed by a team of astronomers with the aim of identifying new maser systems, and mapping their emission at high angular resolution to determine their distance. Two types of observations are necessary to measure a distance: single-dish monitoring to measure the acceleration of gas in the disk, and sensitive VLBI imaging to measure the angular size of the disk, measure the rotation curve, and model radial displacement of the maser feature. The ultimate goal of the MCP is to make a precise measurement of H0 by measuring such distances to at least 10 maser galaxies in the Hubble flow. We present here the preliminary results from a new maser system, Mrk 1419. Through a model of the rotation from the systemic masers assuming a narrow ring, and combining these results with the acceleration measurement from the Green Bank Telescope, we determine a distance to Mrk 1419 of 81 ± 10 Mpc. Given that the disk shows a significant warp that may not be entirely traced by our current observations, more sensitive observations and more sophisticated disk modeling will be essential to improve our distance estimation to this galaxy.

Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S287: Cosmic Masers - from OH to H0 , January 2012 , pp. 311 - 315
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2012

References

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