10.3. Progress toward a trigonometric parallax of Sgr A∗

1998 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 435-436
Author(s):  
M. J. Reid ◽  
A. C. S. Readhead ◽  
R. Vermeulen ◽  
R. Treuhaft
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Secular Motion ◽  
Extragalactic Source ◽  
Trigonometric Parallax ◽  
Sgr A ◽  
Harlow Shapley ◽  
Astronomy And Astrophysics

In 1918, Harlow Shapley first noted that globular clusters were concentrated toward the constellation of Sagittarius, and hence the Sun was not near the center of the Milky Way. Since that time astronomers have expended considerable effort to determine the distance to the center of the Milky Way, because any change in the value of this distance, R0, has a widespread impact on astronomy and astrophysics. Beginning in 1991, we have conducted observations with the VLBA designed to make possible a program to measure the distance to the Galactic Center via a trigonometric parallax. This could be accomplished with the VLBA using Sgr A∗ as a phase reference for one or more (weaker) compact extragalactic sources. A time series of measurements of the position of Sgr A∗ relative to an extragalactic source should show the effects of the annual ≈ ±0.12 mas signature of the Earth's orbit around the Sun (trigonometric parallax), as well as the ≈ 6 mas yr−1 secular motion caused by the Sun's orbit around the Galactic Center.

scholarly journals An Overview of the Globular Cluster System of the Galaxy

1988 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 37-48
Author(s):  
Robert Zinn
Keyword(s):  
Globular Cluster ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Galactic Plane ◽  
Cluster System ◽  
Open Clusters ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Globular Cluster System ◽  
Harlow Shapley

Harlow Shapley (1918) used the positions of globular clusters in space to determine the dimensions of our Galaxy. His conclusion that the Sun does not lie near the center of the Galaxy is widely recognized as one of the most important astronomical discoveries of this century. Nearly as important, but much less publicized, was his realization that, unlike stars, open clusters, HII regions and planetary nebulae, globular clusters are not concentrated near the plane of the Milky Way. His data showed that the globular clusters are distributed over very large distances from the galactic plane and the galactic center. Ever since this discovery that the Galaxy has a vast halo containing globular clusters, it has been clear that these clusters are key objects for probing the evolution of the Galaxy. Later work, which showed that globular clusters are very old and, on average, very metal poor, underscored their importance. In the spirit of this research, which started with Shapley's, this review discusses the characteristics of the globular cluster system that have the most bearing on the evolution of the Galaxy.

scholarly journals Structure of the nuclear stellar cluster of the Milky Way galaxy

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S303) ◽  
pp. 228-229
Author(s):  
Devaky Kunneriath ◽  
Rainer Schödel ◽  
Susan Stolovy ◽  
Anja Feldmeier
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Surface Brightness ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Host Galaxies ◽  
Dynamical Mass ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Stellar Cluster ◽  
Nuclear Cluster ◽  
Sgr A

AbstractNuclear star clusters are unambiguously detected in about 50–70% of spiral and spheroidal galaxies. They have typical half-light radii of 2–5 pc, dynamical mass ranging from 106 – 107 M⊙, are brighter than globular clusters, and obey similar scaling relations with host galaxies as supermassive black holes. The nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) which surrounds Sgr A*, the SMBH at the center of our galaxy, is the nearest nuclear cluster to us, and can be resolved to scales of milliparsecs. The strong and highly variable extinction towards the Galactic center makes it very hard to infer the intrinsic properties of the NSC (structure and size). We attempt a new way to infer its properties by using Spitzer MIR images in a wavelength range 3–8 μm where the extinction is at a minimum, and the NSC clearly stands out as a separate structure. We present results from our analysis, including extinction-corrected images and surface brightness profiles of the central few hundred parsecs of the Milky Way.

scholarly journals Did the Bulge Form All at Once?

1996 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 403-410
Author(s):  
R.M. Rich
Keyword(s):  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Field Population ◽  
Dynamical Instability ◽  
Galactic Bulge ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
History Of

It is reasonable to say that if Jan Oort were alive today, he would no doubt find recent developments in the study of the Galactic bulge to be fascinating. Oort considered the Galactic bulge in two contexts. First, he was interested in the use of the RR Lyrae stars as probes to determine the distance to the Galactic Center. No doubt, Oort would have been excited about the growing evidence of the bulge's triaxiality, as well as by the debate over the age of the bulge. His second interest was in the nature of activity at the center, an issue that I will not discuss in this review. The latter also remains an unsolved problem of the Milky Way, and (based on his work) one that might have been nearer to his heart than this one. Yet the question of when the bulge formed is ultimately a question about the formation history of the Galaxy. The oldest stars (those whose ages we are certain of) are found in Galactic globular clusters, the sum total of which are ≈ 5 × 107M⊙. The field population of the bulge is ≈ 2–3 × 1010M⊙, an order of magnitude more massive than the field population of the metal poor spheroid. So if the bulge formed all at once, and early, then the Milky Way had a luminous, even cataclysmic youth. But if the bulge formed later in the history of our galaxy, as a starburst or dynamical instability of the central disk, then the young Milky Way may have been inconspicuous and primeval galaxies may be hard to find indeed. If our bulge formed very early, its stellar population might have much in common with the giant ellipticals, while a late bulge might teach us much about processes that affect galaxy evolution.

scholarly journals 10.2. High proper motions in the vicinity of Sgr A∗: unambiguous evidence for a massive central black hole

1998 ◽  
Vol 184 ◽  
pp. 433-434
Author(s):  
A. M. Ghez ◽  
B. L. Klein ◽  
C. McCabe ◽  
M. Morris ◽  
E. E. Becklin
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Robust Method ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Central Black Hole ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Sgr A

Although the notion that the Milky Way galaxy contains a supermassive central black hole has been around for more than two decades, it has been difficult to prove that one exists. The challenge is to assess the distribution of matter in the few central parsecs of the Galaxy. Assuming that gravity is the dominant force, the motion of the stars and gas in the vicinity of the putative black hole offers a robust method for accomplishing this task, by revealing the mass interior to the radius of the objects studied. Thus objects located closest to the Galactic Center provide the strongest constraints on the black hole hypothesis.

scholarly journals Stellar parameters in the bulge cluster NGC 6553

1997 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 203-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Barbuy ◽  
S. Ortolani ◽  
E. Bica ◽  
A. Renzini ◽  
M.D. Guarnieri
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Stellar Population ◽  
Spectroscopic Analysis ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Stellar Populations ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Galactic Bulge ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Luminosity Functions ◽  
Bulge Formation

Globular clusters in the Galactic bulge form a flattened system, extending from the Galactic center to about 4.5 kpc from the Sun (Barbuy et al. 1997). A study of abundance ratios in these clusters is very important for a more complete understanding of the bulge formation. In this work we present a spectroscopic analysis of individual stars in NGC 6553. This cluster is a key one because it is located at d⊙ ≍ 5.1 kpc, therefore relatively close to us, and at the same time it is representative of the Galactic bulge stellar population: (a) Ortolani et al. (1995) showed that NGC 6553 and NGC 6528 show very similar Colour-Magnitude Diagrams (CMDs), and NGC 6528 is located at d⊙ ≍ 7.83 kpc, very close to the Galactic center; (b) the stellar populations of the Baade Window is also very similar to that of NGC 6553 and NGC 6528 as Ortolani et al. (1995) have shown by comparing their luminosity functions.

scholarly journals Toward a Trigonometric Parallax of Sgr A*

1998 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 335-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Reid ◽  
A. C. S. Readhead ◽  
R. C. Vermeulen ◽  
R. N. Treuhaft
Keyword(s):  
Galactic Center ◽  
Direct Imaging ◽  
Trigonometric Parallax ◽  
First Results ◽  
Sgr A

AbstractWe initiated a project with the VLBA to measure directly the distance to the Galactic Center, R0, via a trigonometric parallax. Here we describe the observing program and the first results–direct imaging of the effects of the Sun’s orbit about the Galactic Center.

Annual parallax and galactic orbit of Y Librae (IRAS 15090−0549) Mira variable star—GALORB release

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
James O Chibueze ◽  
Toshihiro Omodaka ◽  
Riku Urago ◽  
Takumi Nagayama ◽  
Jibrin A Alhassan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Milky Way ◽  
Variable Star ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Galactic Rotation ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Pulsation Period ◽  
Infrared Observations ◽  
Trigonometric Parallax ◽  
Peculiar Motion ◽  
Galactic Orbit

Abstract Using the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), we measured the trigonometric parallax of an H2O maser source in a variable star of Mira Cet type, Y Lib, to be 0.855 ± 0.050 mas, corresponding to a distance of 1.17 ± 0.07 kpc. From multi-epoch infrared observations with the Kagoshima University 1 m telescope, we derived the mean J, H, and K′-band magnitudes of Y Lib to be 4.34 ± 0.22 mag, 3.62 ± 0.18 mag, and 3.25 ± 0.16 mag, respectively. The pulsation period of Y Lib was obtained to be 277.2 ± 13.9 d. We derived the effective temperature and radius of Y Lib to be 3100 ± 125 K and $211 \pm 11 \, R_{\odot }$, respectively. The peculiar motion of Y Lib Us (motion towards the Galactic center), Vs (motion in the direction of Galactic rotation), and Ws (motion towards the Galactic North Pole) were obtained to be −16 ± 3 km s−1, 25 ± 2 km s−1, and 13 ± 3 km s−1, respectively. After validation, we used the new release of the GALactic ORbit simulation package to trace the past 1 Gyr orbit of Y Lib in the Milky Way. Fitting the orbit of Y Lib with the MWPotential2014 Galactic Potential model produced high eccentricity in the direction perpendicular to the Galactic center, but decreasing the Miyamoto–Nagai disk potential contribution in the Milky Way model produced a reasonable result of the Y Lib orbit.

scholarly journals Understanding our Galaxy: from the center to outskirts

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 470-473
Author(s):  
Z. Q. Shen ◽  
Y. Xu ◽  
J. L. Han ◽  
X. W. Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Radio Source ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Galactic Disk ◽  
Spiral Arms ◽  
Compact Radio Source ◽  
Sgr A ◽  
Spiral Arm

AbstractWe describe the efforts to understand our Milky Way Galaxy, from its center to outskirts, including (1) the measurements of the intrinsic size of the galactic center compact radio source Sgr A*; (2) the determination of the distance from the Sun to the Perseus spiral arm; and (3) the revealing of large scale global magnetic fields of the Galaxy.With high-resolution millimeter-VLBI observations, Shen et al. (2005) have measured the intrinsic size of the radio-emitting region of the galactic center compact radio source Sgr A* to be only 1 AU in diameter at 3.5 mm. When combined with the lower limit on the mass of Sgr A*, this provides strong evidence for Sgr A* being a super-massive black hole. Comparison with the intrinsic size detection at 7 mm indicates a frequency-dependent source size, posing a tight constraint on various theoretical models.With VLBI phase referencing observations, Xu et al. (2006) have measured the trigonometric parallax of W3OH in the Perseus spiral arm with an accuracy of 10 μas and also its absolute velocity with an accuracy of 1 km s−1. This demonstrates the capability of probing the structure and kinematics of the Milky Way by determining distances to 12 GHz methanol (CH3OH) masers in star forming regions of distant spiral arms and Milky Way's outskirts.With pulsar dispersion measures and rotation measures, Han et al. (2006) can directly measure the magnetic fields in a very large region of the Galactic disk. The results show that the large-scale magnetic fields are aligned with the spiral arms but reverse their directions many times from the most inner Norma arm to the outer Perseus arm.

scholarly journals Feeding and feedback in nearby AGN – comparison with the Milky Way center

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (S303) ◽  
pp. 354-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Storchi-Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Activity Cycle ◽  
Nuclear Region ◽  
Nuclear Activity ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Mass Outflow ◽  
Sgr A

AbstractI discuss feeding and feedback processes observed in the inner few hundred parsecs of nearby active galaxies using integral field spectroscopy at spatial resolutions of a few to tens of parsecs. Signatures of feedback include outflows from the nucleus with velocities ranging from 200 to 1000 km s−1, with mass outflow rates between 0.5 and a few M⊙ yr−1. Signatures of feeding include the observation of gas inflows along nuclear spirals and filaments, with velocities ranging from 50 to 100 km s−1 and mass flow rates from 0.1 to ∼1 M⊙ yr−1. These rates are 2–3 orders of magnitude larger than the mass accretion rate to the supermassive black hole (SMBH). These inflows can thus lead, during less than one activity cycle, to the accumulation of enough gas in the inner few hundred parsecs, to trigger the formation of new stars, leading to the growth of the galaxy bulge. Young to intermediate age stars have indeed been found in circumnuclear rings around a number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). In particular, one of these rings, with radius of ≈ 100 pc is observed in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068, and is associated to an off-centered molecular ring, very similar to that observed in the Milky Way (MW). On the basis of an evolutionary scenario in which gas falling into the nuclear region triggers star formation followed by the triggering of nuclear activity, we speculate that, in the case of the MW, molecular gas has already accumulated within the inner ≈ 100 pc to trigger the formation of new stars, as supported by the presence of blue stars close to the galactic center. A possible increase in the star-formation rate in the nuclear region will then be followed, probably tens of millions of years later, by the triggering of nuclear activity in Sgr A*.

The circular velocity at the sun

1979 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 225-230
Author(s):  
G. R. Knapp
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Galactic Center ◽  
Solar Rotation ◽  
Center Of Mass ◽  
Rotation Velocity ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Galactic Rotation ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Galactocentric Distance ◽  
Rr Lyrae

The galactic rotation velocity at the Sun, , can be derived several ways, none of them direct and unambiguous - (1) the solar velocity can be found relative to the halo population (the RR Lyrae stars, globular clusters etc.), but may contain an unknown contribution from possible systematic rotation of the halo system (2) the product Ro ω(Ro) = Ro (A-B) can be calculated but is uncertain because of large uncertainties in each of these three quantities (3) the motion of the Sun with respect to the center of the Local Group can be found but includes the motion of the galactic center of mass and (4) the velocity-longitude dependence of the outer HI boundary can be examined to deduce the most likely value of . The incorporation of new data into analyses using methods (1) and (3) gives essentially the same answers as older studies. Examination of the accumulated current evidence suggests that the best values for the solar rotation velocity and the galactocentric distance Ro are 220 km s−1 and 8.5 kpc respectively.

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