Constraining the dark matter halos of the Milky Way and Andomeda by µ-arcsecond VLBI Astrometry

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Karl M. Menten
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2005 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5449766

• Final Report Year: 2012

Final Report Abstract

The main goal of this project was to constrain models for the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies (and the Local Group in general) by measuring proper motions of Local Group galaxies and parallaxes and proper motions of star forming regions in the Milky Way. The extragalactic work resulted into a survey of two Local Group galaxies (M33 and NGC 6822) for water masers, and the measurement of the proper motion of IC 10, which lead to constraints on the mass of the Andromeda galaxy. In the Milky Way, very accurate proper motions and parallaxes of several star forming regions were measured.

Publications

• (2006): Water masers in the Local Group of galaxies. In: A&A 457 (1), S. 109–114
  Brunthaler A., Henkel C., de Blok W.J.G., Reid M.J., Falcke H., Greenhill L.J.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065650)
• (2007). The distance to the Orion Nebula. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 474(2), 515-520
  Menten K.M., Reid M.J., Forbrich J., Brunthaler A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20078247)
• (2007). The innermost region of the water megamaser radio galaxy 3C 403. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 475(2), 497-506
  Tarchi A., Brunthaler A., Henkel C., Menten K.M., Braatz J., Weiss A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20078317)
• (2007). The proper motion of the Local Group galaxy IC 10. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 462(1), 101-106
  Brunthaler A., Reid M.J., Falcke H., Henkel C., Menten K.M.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20066430)
• (2008). The nature of the methanol maser ring G23. 657-00.127-I. The distance through trigonometric parallax measurements. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 490(2), 787-792
  Bartkiewicz A., Brunthaler A., Szymczak M., van Langevelde H.J., Reid M.J.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200810470)
• (2008): A gravitationally lensed water maser in the early Universe. In: Nature 456 (7224), S. 927–929
  Impellizzeri C.M.V., McKean J.P., Castangia P., Roy, A., Henkel C., Brunthaler A., Wucknitz O.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07544)
• (2008): Limits on the Position Wander of Sgr A*. In: ApJ 682 (2), S. 1041–1046
  Reid M.J., Broderick A.E., Loeb A., Honma M., Brunthaler A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1086/588603)
• (2009). Evidence of a pure starburst nature of the nuclear region of NGC 253. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 497(1), 103-108
  Brunthaler A., Castangia P., Tarchi A., Henkel C., Reid M.J., Falcke H., Menten K.M.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200911615)
• (2009). The distance to a star-forming region in the outer arm of the galaxy. The Astrophysical Journal, 696(2), 1981
  Hachisuka K., Brunthaler A., Menten K.M., Reid M.J., Hagiwara Y., Mochizuki N.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/696/2/1981)
• (2009). Trigonometric parallaxes of massive star-forming regions. I. S 252 & G232. 6+ 1.0. The Astrophysical Journal, 693(1), 397
  Reid M.J., Menten K.M., Brunthaler A., Zheng X.W., Moscadelli L., Xu Y.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/397)
• (2009). Trigonometric Parallaxes of Massive Star-Forming Regions. II. Cep A and NGC 7538. The Astrophysical Journal, 693(1), 406
  Moscadelli L., Reid M.J., Menten K.M., Brunthaler A., Zheng X.W., Xu Y.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/406)
• (2009). Trigonometric parallaxes of massive star-forming regions. IV. G35. 20–0.74 and G35. 20–1.74. The Astrophysical Journal, 693(1), 419
  Xu Y., Reid M.J., Menten K.M., Brunthaler A., Zheng X.W., Moscadelli L.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/419)
• (2009). Trigonometric parallaxes of massive star-forming regions: III. G59. 7+ 0.1 and W 51 IRS2. The Astrophysical Journal, 693(1), 413
  Zhang B., Zheng X.W., Reid M.J., Menten K.M., Xu Y., Moscadelli L., Brunthaler A.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/413)
• Trigonometric Parallaxes of Massive Star-Forming Regions. V. G23.01–0.41 and G23.44–0.18. In: ApJ 693 (1), S. 424–429
  Brunthaler A., Reid M.J., Menten K.M., Zheng X.W., Moscadelli L., Xu Y.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/424)