Streaming Motions toward the Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 1097

We have used GMOS-IFU and high-resolution HST-ACS observations to map, in unprecedented detail, the gas velocity field and structure within the 0.7 kpc circumnuclear ring of the SBb LINER/Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 1097. We find clear evidence of radial streaming motions associated with spiral structures leading to the unresolved (<3.5 pc) nucleus, which we interpret as part of the fueling chain by which gas is transported to the nuclear starburst and supermassive black hole.

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