Related papers: M31* and its circumnuclear environment

We identified a new X-ray transient CXOM31 004252.457+411631.17 (T13) in M31 during a 2013 June Chandra observation. This system is particularly exciting because it is located within 100" of M31*; it is thought that this region of the bulge…

We present a Chandra ACIS-S observation of the nearby bulge-dominated Sa galaxy NGC1291. The X-ray emission from the bulge resembles the X-ray emission from a sub-class of elliptical and S0 galaxies with low L_X/L_B luminosity ratios. The…

We report the results of an analysis of two XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn spectra of the bright ultraluminous X-ray source M81 X-9 (Holmberg IX X-1), obtained in snapshot observations. Soft thermal emission is clearly revealed in spectra dominated by…

The emission nebula M17 contains a young ~1 Myr-old open cluster; the winds from the OB stars of this cluster have blown a superbubble around the cluster. ROSAT observations of M17 detected diffuse X-ray emission peaking at the cluster and…

Hot gaseous halos are predicted around all large galaxies and are critically important for our understanding of galaxy formation, but they have never been detected at distances beyond a few kpc around a spiral galaxy. We used the Chandra…

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the most nearby giant spiral galaxy, an opportunity to study with high resolution dynamical phenomena occurring in nuclear disks and bulges, able to explain star formation quenching, and galaxy evolution…

Ultraluminous supersoft X-ray sources (ULSSS) exhibit supersoft spectra with blackbody temperatures of 50-100 eV and bolometric luminosities above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$, and are possibly intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) of $\ge10^3…

Mass and spin are the only two parameters needed to completely characterize black holes in General Relativity. However, the interaction between black holes and their environment is where complexity lies, as the relevant physical processes…

The nature of the relationship between low-level supermassive black hole (SMBH) activity and galactic cold gas, if any, is currently unclear. Here, we test whether central black holes may feed at higher rates in gas-rich galaxies, probing…

M32 hosts a 2.5x10^6 solar mass central black hole, but signs of nuclear activity in this galaxy have long eluded detection. We report the first conclusive detection of the nucleus of M32 in X-rays, based on high-resolution, sensitive…

We present an X-ray study of our nearest starburst galaxy IC 10, based on XMM-Newton and Chandra observations. A list of 73 XMM-Newton and 28 Chandra detections of point-like X-ray sources in the field is provided; a substantial fraction of…

In the framework of understanding the gas and stellar kinematics and their relations to AGNs and galaxy evolution scenarios, we present spatially resolved distributions and kinematics of the stars and gas in the central $\sim 800$-pc radius…

We present new optical long-slit data along 6 position angles of the bulge region of M31. We derive accurate stellar and gas kinematics reaching 5 arcmin from the center, where the disk light contribution is always less than 30%, and out to…

The cold and hot interstellar medium (ISM) in star forming galaxies resembles the reservoir for star formation and associated heating by stellar winds and explosions during stellar evolution, respectively. We utilize data from deep…

The dust temperature and mass of the supernova remnants (SNRs) in M31 are estimated by fitting the infrared spectral energy distribution calculated from the images in the Spitzer/IRAC4 and MIPS24, Herschel/PACS70, 100, 160, and…

Chandra X-ray observations of the nearby brightest cluster galaxy M87 resolve the hot gas structure across the Bondi accretion radius of the central supermassive black hole, a measurement possible in only a handful of systems but…

As the nearest large spiral galaxy, M31 provides a unique opportunity to learn about the structure and evolutionary history of this galaxy type in great detail. Among the many observing programs aimed at M31 are microlensing studies, which…

We present the first results of an analysis of the properties of the molecular gas in the nuclear regions (r < 300 pc) of a sample of six nearby galaxies, based on new high spatial resolution observations obtained in the K-band with the…

We present stellar and gaseous kinematics of the inner 120x250pc^2 of the Liner/Seyfert 1 galaxy M81, from optical spectra obtained with the GMOS integral field spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope at a spatial resolution of 10pc. The…

We report the identification of a bright hard X-ray source dominating the M31 bulge above 25 keV from a simultaneous NuSTAR-Swift observation. We find that this source is the counterpart to Swift J0042.6+4112, which was previously detected…