Related papers: The Megamaser Cosmology Project. II. The Angular-D…
The Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP) seeks to measure the Hubble Constant (Ho) in order to improve the extragalactic distance scale and constrain the nature of dark energy. We are searching for sources of water maser emission from AGN with…
In Papers I and II from the Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP), we reported initial observations of water masers in an accretion disk of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy UGC 3789, which gave an angular-diameter distance…
We present the direct measurement of the Hubble constant, yielding the direct measurement of the angular-diameter distance to NGC 6264 using the H$_{2}$O megamaser technique. Our measurement is based on sensitive observations of the…
As part of the Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP), here we present a new geometric distance measurement to the megamaser galaxy NGC 5765b. Through a series of VLBI observations, we have confirmed the water masers trace a thin, sub-parsec…
Water vapor megamasers from the center of active galaxies provide a powerful tool to trace accretion disks at sub-parsec resolution and, through an entirely geometrical method, measure direct distances to galaxies up to 200 Mpc. The…
We present a measurement of the Hubble constant made using geometric distance measurements to megamaser-hosting galaxies. We have applied an improved approach for fitting maser data and obtained better distance estimates for four galaxies…
As part of the survey component of the Megamaser Cosmology Project, we have discovered a disk megamaser system in the galaxy CGCG 074-064. Using the GBT and the VLA, we have obtained spectral monitoring observations of this maser system at…
Observations of H$_2$O masers from circumnuclear disks in active galaxies for the Megamaser Cosmology Project allow accurate measurement of the mass of supermassive black holes (BH) in these galaxies. We present the Very Long Baseline…
As part of the Megamaser Cosmology Project (MCP), we present VLBI maps of nuclear water masers toward five galaxies. The masers originate in sub-parsec circumnuclear disks. For three of the galaxies, we fit Keplerian rotation curves to…
Using the Green Bank Telescope, we conducted a ``snapshot'' survey for water maser emission toward the nuclei of 611 galaxies and detected eight new sources. The sample consisted of nearby (v < 5000 km/s) and luminous (M_B < -19.5)…
We report a three year, 18 epoch, VLBI monitoring study of H2O masers in the sub-parsec, warped, accretion disk within the NGC4258 AGN. Our immediate goals are to trace the geometry of the underlying disk, track rotation via measurement of…
We present observations of the H2O megamasers in the accretion disk of NGC 6323. By combining interferometric and spectral monitoring data, we estimate H$_{0} = 73^{+26}_{-22}$ km/s/Mpc, where the low strength of the systemic masers (<15…
In combination with observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, a measurement of the Hubble Constant provides a direct test of the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model and a powerful constraint on the equation of state of dark…
The water maser in the mildly active nucleus in the nearby galaxy NGC4258 traces a thin, nearly edge-on, subparsec-scale Keplerian disk. Using the technique of very long baseline interferometry, we have detected the proper motions of these…
H$_2$O megamasers residing in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) exhibit Keplerian rotation about the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Such disk maser systems are excellent tools for diagnosing the kinematic status…
Naturally occurring water vapor maser emission at 1.35 cm wavelength provides an accurate probe for the study of accretion disks around highly compact objects, thought to be black holes, in the centers of active galaxies. Because of the…
We report a new geometric maser distance estimate to the active galaxy NGC 4258. The data for the new model are maser line-of-sight velocities and sky positions from 18 epochs of Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations, and…
Aim: The aim of this work is to search Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4945, a well-known 22 GHz water megamaser galaxy, for water (mega)maser emission at 183 GHz. Method: We used APEX SEPIA Band 5 to perform the observations. Results: We detected 183…
Water megamasers from circumnuclear disks in galaxy centers provide the most accurate measurements of supermassive black hole masses and uniquely probe the sub-parsec accretion processes. At the same time, these systems offer independent…
We present high resolution (sub-mas) VLBI maps of nuclear H2O megamasers for seven galaxies. In UGC6093, the well-aligned systemic masers and high-velocity masers originate in an edge-on, flat disk and we determine the mass of the central…