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The Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way

  • Conference paper
Beyond the Desert 2003

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Physics ((SPPHY,volume 92))

  • 239 Accesses

Abstract

The most recent results of the SgrA* near-infrared monitoring program are described. The program was started over ten years ago using the MPE speckle Camera SHARP at the ESO NTT and has now very successfully been continued with the NAOS/CONICA adaptive optics system at the ESO VLT UT4. There are confirmed and newly found accelerated motions for all together 6 stars, with 4 stars having passed the peri-center of their orbits during the observed time span. All orbits have moderate to high eccentricities. The center of these acceleration coincides with the radio position of Sgr A*. From the orbit of the star S2, the currently most tightly constrained one, one can determine the mass of Sgr A* to 3.3 ± 0.7 x 106M⨀ and its position to 2.0 ± 2.4 mas East and 2.7 ± 4.5 mas South of the nominal radio position. The mass estimates for the central dark mass from the orbit of S2 and from statistical estimators agree well within the errors. As a combined result one can estimate that > 98% of the mass contained within the orbit of S2 is contained within ~0.1 mas. This implies a mass density of >5 x 1021M⨀pc-3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Str.77, 50937, Köln, Germany

    Andreas Eckart & Christian Straubmeier

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  1. Andreas Eckart
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  2. Christian Straubmeier
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Hans Volker Klapdor-Kleingrothaus

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Eckart, A., Straubmeier, C. (2004). The Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way. In: Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H.V. (eds) Beyond the Desert 2003. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 92. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18534-2_40

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18534-2_40

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62148-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18534-2

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