WISDOM project – XXVIII. Molecular gas measurement of the supermassive black hole mass of the galaxy NGC 1387

Journal article

Supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses can be measured using molecular gas kinematics. Here we present high-angular-resolution (0.12 arcsec or pc) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the CO(2–1) line emission of the early-type galaxy NGC 1387. The observations reveal a face-on, regularly rotating central molecular gas disc with a diameter of arcsec ( kpc) and a central depression slightly larger than the SMBH sphere of influence. We forward model the CO data cube in a Bayesian framework with the Kinematic Molecular Simulation code, and use Hubble Space Telescope data to constrain the stellar gravitational potential contribution to the molecular gas kinematics. We infer an SMBH mass of M and an F160W-filter stellar mass-to-light ratio of M/L. This SMBH mass is consistent with the SMBH mass–stellar velocity dispersion relation.

Authors: Dominiak, P; Bureau, M; Liang, F; Cappellari, M; Davis, TA

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Volume: 548
• Issue: 1
• Pages: stag546
• Article number: stag546
• Publication date: 2026-03-19
• Acceptance date: 2026-03-18
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stag546
• EISSN: 1365-2966
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Language: English
• Keywords: galaxies: individual: NGC 1387; galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD; galaxies: kinematics and dynamics; galaxies: nuclei; galaxies: ISM