J/ApJ/717/L6ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/717/L6doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17179006CDSBatcheldor D.Robinson A.Axon D.J.Perlman E.S.Merritt D.2012-07-13T16:17:47Z2012-06-25T12:18:08ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.fractive-galactic-nucleihst-photometryIsophotal analysis of M87, using data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveals a projected displacement of 6.8+/-0.8pc (~0.1") between the nuclear point source (presumed to be the location of the supermassive black hole, SMBH) and the photo-center of the galaxy. The displacement is along a position angle of 307+/-17{deg} and is consistent with the jet axis. This suggests the active SMBH in M87 does not currently reside at the galaxy center of mass, but is displaced in the counter-jet direction. Possible explanations for the displacement include orbital motion of an SMBH binary, gravitational perturbations due to massive objects (e.g., globular clusters), acceleration by an asymmetric or intrinsically one-sided jet, and gravitational recoil resulting from the coalescence of an SMBH binary.2010ApJ...717L...6Bhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/717/L6CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic servicerelated-toB/hst : HST Archived Exposures Catalog (STScI, 2007)J/ApJS/197/33 : The M87 globular cluster system (Strader+, 2011)J/ApJ/703/42 : HST photometry of M87 globular clusters (Peng+, 2009)J/AJ/135/928 : The black hole-bulge relationship (Shen+, 2008)J/AJ/131/866 : Hot populations in M87 globular clusters (Sohn+, 2006)J/ApJ/613/279 : ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. III. M87 (Jordan+, 2004)J/ApJ/559/812 : Globular cluster system in M87 (Hanes+, 2001)J/ApJ/513/733 : Globular cluster system in M87 (Kundu+, 1999)J/ApJ/492/62 : M87 planetary nebulae (Ciardullo+, 1998)J/AJ/115/1801 : VRI photometry of M87 globular clusters (Harris+ 1998)J/AJ/106/493 : Globular clusters in M87 (Lee+, 1993)J/ApJS/73/671 : M87 globular clusters BVI photometry (Couture+, 1990)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/717/L6GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapOpticaldefaultJ/ApJ/717/L6/table2Radial offsets of fitted ellipse centersrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintHRC-SMAHigh Resolution Channel semi-major axisarcsecphys.size.smajAxis;src.orbitalfloatHRC-F606WHigh Resolution Channel F606W band offset (1)pcpos;arith.difffloatHRC-F814WHigh Resolution Channel F814W band offset (1)pcpos;arith.difffloatWFC-SMAWide Field Channel semi-major axisarcsecpos;arith.difffloatWFC-F606WWide Field Channel F606W band offset (1)pcpos;arith.difffloatWFC-F814WWide Field Channel F814W band offset (1)pcpos;arith.difffloat