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Supermassive black holes lurk at the center of every large galaxy. These cosmic behemoths can be millions to billions of times more massive than the sun. Determining just how massive, however, has been daunting, especially for spiral galaxies and their closely related cousins barred spirals.
This is a composite image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. By studying the motion of two molecules, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array was able to determine that the supermassive black hole at the galactic center has a mass 140 million times greater than our sun. To achieve this result, the research team precisely measured the distribution and motion of two molecules -- hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and formylium (HCO+) -- near the central region of the galaxy.Image credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ), K. Onishi; NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, E. Sturdivant; NRAO/AUI/NSF
