AAS 195th Meeting, January 2000
Session 118. Supermassive Black Holes
Oral, Saturday, January 15, 2000, 10:00-11:30am, Centennial I and II

[Previous] | [Session 118] | [Next]


[118.04] The Nuclear Stellar Dynamics of the S0 Galaxy NGC7332

C.H. Nelson, D. Weistrop (UNLV), G. A. Bower, R. F. Green (NOAO/KPNO), STIS Team

STIS longslit spectroscopy of the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 7332 was obtained for the purpose of modeling the nuclear stellar dynamics and to search for evidence of a massive black hole. The primary stellar absorption features are the strong Ca II triplet lines at ~8600 Å. Stellar kinematical measurements characterizing the line-of-sight velocity distribution were extracted using the Fourier correlation quotient method (Bender 1990, A&Ap, 229, 441). Combined with ground-based imaging and spectroscopy (Fisher, Illingworth & Franx 1994, AJ, 107, 160) and HST WF/PC-1 imaging (Lauer et al. 1995, AJ, 110, 2622) these data were fitted with dynamical models developed by K. Gebhardt which included a compact massive dark object (MDO). We will discuss our results in the context of the relationship for spheroidal stellar systems between spheroid mass and the mass of the MDO, M\bullet, (see e.g. Kormendy & Richstone 1995, ARA&A, 33, 581). NGC 7332 is of particular interest since Magorrian et al. (1998, AJ, 115, 2285) find that of all the galaxies in their survey this one is most consistent with M\bullet=0 with an upper limit \rm M\bullet<7\times106 M\odot.


[Previous] | [Session 118] | [Next]