GBT25A-334

Tully-Fisher Distance to MCG-06-30-15

Abstract

MCG-06-30-15 is a rare X-ray bright active galaxy that is near enough to allow high spatial-resolution studies of its nucleus. Despite being well-studied for a variety of purposes, the distance to this galaxy is quite uncertain. Many of the widely used distance measurement techniques are not applicable to MCG-06-30-15. Here we propose to employ one that is. We propose to measure the HI 21 cm emission-line profile with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to constrain the distance to MCG-06-30-15 using the Tully-Fisher method. The 100m dish of the GBT offers a large collecting area for detecting faint extragalactic signals. We shall use the VEGAS backend with the L-band receiver, which will allow us to resolve the rotational velocity of the gas in the galaxy disk. The sky location of MCG-06-30-15 (LST=13h) falls within the undersubscribed LST range (10-14h), and the low frequency (<8 GHz) of the proposed observations make this a good candidate for the the GBT filler program. The results of this proposal will provide the first accurate distance for this galaxy, and will enable other studies to better understand the physical properties and the interactions between the AGN and its host galaxy in this well-studied target.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Nabanita Das *	Georgia State University
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory
Misty Bentz	Georgia State University

* indicates the PI