articleThe Astrophysical JournalNov 26, 2008BRONZE OA

Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way’s Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits

AMA. M. GhezSSS. SalimNNN. N. WeinbergJRJ. R. LuTDT. Do

Planetary Science Institute · University of California, Los Angeles · +5 more institutions

Indexed inarxivcrossrefdoaj

Abstract

We report new precision measurements of the properties of our Galaxy's supermassive black hole. Based on astrometric (1995-2007) and radial velocity (RV; 2000-2007) measurements from the W. M. Keck 10m telescopes, a fully unconstrained Keplerian orbit for the short-period star S0-2 provides values for the distance (R_0) of 8.0±0.6 kpc, the enclosed mass (M_(bh)) of 4.1±0.6x10^6 M☉ and the black hole's RV, which is consistent with zero with 30 km/s uncertainty. If the black hole is assumed to be at rest with respect to the Galaxy (e. g., has no massive companion to induce motion), we can further constrain the fit, obtaining R_0 = 8.4±0.4kpc and M_(bh) 4.5±0.4x10^6 M☉. More complex models constrain the extended…

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Authors

13
  • AM
    A. M. GhezCorresponding

    Planetary Science Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

  • SS
    S. Salim

    University of California, Los Angeles, Kitt Peak National Observatory

  • NN
    N. N. Weinberg

    California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley

  • JR
    J. R. Lu

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • TD
    T. Do

    University of California, Los Angeles

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Milky Way
  • Supermassive black hole
  • Black hole (networking)
  • Proper motion
  • Intermediate-mass black hole
  • Orbit (dynamics)
  • Stars
  • Orbital period
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