Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in NGC 4395

The Seyfert 1 nucleus of NGC 4395 is energized by a black hole of mass 3.6e5 Solar masses, making it one of only two nuclear black holes of intermediate mass, about 1e3 to 1e6 Solar masses, detected in the radio regime. Building upon UV and X-ray evidence for outflows from this Seyfert nucleus, the VLBI High Sensitivity Array (HSA) was used at 1.4 GHz to search for extended structure on scales greater than 5 milliarcseconds (0.1 parsecs). Elongated emission was discovered, extending over 15 milliarcseconds (0.3 parsecs) and suggesting an outflow on subparsec scales from this intermediate-mass black hole. The Seyfert nucleus is located at the center of an elliptical star cluster, and the elongation position angle of the subparsec radio structure is only 19 degrees from the star clusters's minor axis.

Legacy Astronomical Images

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Legacy Astronomical Image

NGC 4395

J.M. Wrobel, L.C. Ho

Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)

Very Large Array

Green Bank Telescope (GBT)

2005-05-01

continuum

L

20 cm

1.4 GHz

RA 12:25:48.880, Dec: 33:32:48.700 (J2000)

0.000019 x 0.000019 degrees

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Active Galactic Nuclei Series

Seyferts Unit