A star is tracked through a complete close approach to the Galactic centre
Infrared monitoring resolved the orbit of the star S2 around the compact radio source Sagittarius A*, including its 2002 pericentre passage, establishing a period of about sixteen years and confining a mass of some millions of suns within a volume small enough to exclude every alternative except a black hole - a dense star cluster of that compactness would not be dynamically stable. It is the measurement that made the Galactic centre black hole the best-established case anywhere.
Observed — measured or witnessed, with the observation cited.
Subjects
- S2 - the star that measured the Galactic centre · celestial body · Galactic centre, constellation Sagittarius as seen from Earth · not located
- Sagittarius A* - the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way · celestial body · Galactic centre, constellation Sagittarius as seen from Earth · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
A star in a 15.2-year orbit around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
Reports a complete stellar orbit around the Galactic centre compact source, constraining the enclosed mass within the pericentre distance. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: not consulted in session; no research tool was available. Title, volume and page are from recall and must be checked; the period is quoted slightly differently in later analyses.
Nature · 2002 · Partly verified
R. Schoedel et al., Nature 419, 694 (2002)
Recorded on S2 - the star that measured the Galactic centre
- A star is tracked through a complete close approach to the Galactic centre
- The Event Horizon Telescope observes M87* and Sagittarius A*
- S2 passes pericentre and its light is measurably redshifted
- The orbit of S2 is shown to precess as general relativity predicts
- The Nobel Prize in Physics recognises black holes twice over
- The black hole at the centre of our own galaxy is imaged
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The black hole at the centre of our own galaxy is imaged · 2022-05-12
- The Nobel Prize in Physics recognises black holes twice over · 2020-10-06
- The orbit of S2 is shown to precess as general relativity predicts · 2020
- S2 passes pericentre and its light is measurably redshifted · 2018-05
- The Event Horizon Telescope observes M87* and Sagittarius A* · 2017-04