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The Galactic Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Reinhard Genzel  and
Vladimír Karas
Reinhard Genzel
Affiliation:
Max-Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching, Germany Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Vladimír Karas
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
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Abstract

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In the past decade high resolution measurements in the infrared employing adaptive optics imaging on 10m telescopes have allowed determining the three dimensional orbits stars within ten light hours of the compact radio source at the center of the Milky Way. These observations show the presence of a three million solar mass black hole in Sagittarius A* beyond any reasonable doubt. The Galactic Center thus constitutes the best astrophysical evidence for the existence of black holes which have long been postulated, and is also an ideal ‘lab’ for studying the physics in the vicinity of such an object. Remarkably, young massive stars are present there and probably have formed in the innermost stellar cusp. Variable infrared and X-ray emission from Sagittarius A* are a new probe of the physical processes and space-time curvature just outside the event horizon.

Keywords

Galaxy: center – black hole physics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S238: Black Holes from Stars to Galaxies – Across the Range of Masses , August 2006 , pp. 173 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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