Planetary Camera observations of the M87 stellar cusp

Results are presented of an analysis of V- and I-band HST Planetary Camera images of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 which show that its central starlight distribution is consistent with the black hole 2.6 x 10 exp 9-solar-mass cup model proposed for M87 by Young et al. (1978). A combined approach of image deconvolution and modeling is used to investigate the starlight distribution into limiting radii of about 0.04 arcsec. The central structure of M87 is described by three components: a power-law starlight profile of the form mu(r) varies as r exp -1/4 for r of less than 3 arcsec, a central nonthermal point source, and optical counterparts of the jet knots N1 and M identified by VLBI observations.