Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The discovery by Kormendy V and σ are at the high end of the predicted range near the center. Therefore, M• > 109 M☉. The spatial resolution has now improved by a factor of ~5 since the discovery observations, and the case for a central MDO has strengthened correspondingly. With HST and the Second Wide Field and Planetary Camera, NGC 3115 also shows a bright nucleus. This is very prominent and distinct from the bulge when the superposed nuclear disk is subtracted. After bulge subtraction, the nucleus has σ = 600 ± 37 km s-1, the largest central dispersion seen in any galaxy. If the nucleus contained only old stars and not an MDO, its escape velocity would be ~352 km s-1, much smaller than the observed velocities of the stars. This is independent proof that an MDO is present. The new observations put more stringent constraints on the radius inside which the dark mass lies and strengthen the case that it is a 2 × 109 M☉ black hole.
Kormendy et al. (Sun,) studied this question.