The Megamaser Cosmology Project. VI. Observations of NGC 6323

TL;DR

This paper reports on observations of water megamasers in NGC 6323's accretion disk, estimating the Hubble constant with methods tailored for weak maser signals, guiding future measurements with more sensitive telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces techniques for analyzing weak maser emissions and provides an initial H0 estimate from NGC 6323, aiding future cosmological measurements.

Findings

Estimated H0 = 73^{+26}_{-22} km/s/Mpc

Developed methods for weak maser signal analysis

Guidance for future observations with next-generation telescopes

Abstract

We present observations of the H2O megamasers in the accretion disk of NGC 6323. By combining interferometric and spectral monitoring data, we estimate H$_{0} = 73^{+26}_{-22}$ km/s/Mpc, where the low strength of the systemic masers (<15 mJy) limits the accuracy of this estimate. The methods developed here for dealing with weak maser emission provide guidance for observations of similar sources, until significant increases in radio telescope sensitivity, such as anticipated from the next generation Very Large Array, are realized.