Abstract
Exciting new broadband observations of the galactic nucleus have placed the heart of the Milky Way under intense scrutiny in recent years. This has been due in part to the growing interest from theorists motivated to study the physics of black hole accretion, magnetized gas dynamics, and unusual star formation. The center of our Galaxy is now known to harbor the most compelling supermassive black hole candidate, weighing in at 3–4 million solar masses. Its nearby environment is comprised of a molecular dusty ring, clusters of evolved and young stars, diffuse hot gas, ionized gas streamers, and several supernova remnants. This chapter will focus on the physical makeup of this dynamic region and the feasibility of actually imaging the black hole’s shadow in the coming decade with mm interferometry.
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Notes
- 1.
The heart of the Milky Way lies in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, close to the border with the neighboring constellation Scorpius. Celestial objects and features tend to be named after the constellation in which they are found, so the galactic center is said to lie in the Sagittarius A complex, and gaseous structure within it is called, for example, Sagittarius A East and Sagittarius A West.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
The ASCA Fe-line observations apparently require a temperature as high as ∼ 108 K. See Koyama et al. (1996).
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Melia, F. (2013). The Galactic Nucleus. In: Oswalt, T.D., Gilmore, G. (eds) Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5612-0_5
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