Stellar proper motions in the central 0.1 pc of the Galaxy

1997 ◽  
Vol 284 (3) ◽  
pp. 576-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Eckart ◽  
R. Genzel
Keyword(s):  
Proper Motions ◽  
Stellar Proper Motions ◽  
The Galaxy

THE EARLY GREAT DEBATE: A COMMENT ON IBN AL-HAYTHAM‘S WORK ON THE LOCATION OF THE MILKY WAY WITH RESPECT TO THE EARTH

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Eckart
Keyword(s):  
Milky Way ◽  
Last Millennium ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Stellar Proper Motions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Great Debate ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Early Translation ◽  
Critical Translation

AbstractAt the very beginning of the last millennium Ibn al-Haytham greatly contributed to the investigation of the Milky Way. Here, the only three currently known versions of his work on the location of the Milky Way are compared to each other and discussed. A comparison of the texts and an early translation into German by E. Wiedemann in 1906 reveals several differences that triggered a new critical translation of the passed down text. We give detailed comments on the work and check the validity of Ibn al-Haytham's arguments. We also discuss his work in the framework of the ‘Great Debate’ on the Milky Way that took place around 1920, more than a decade after Wiedemann's translation. We find that Ibn al-Haytham's work is certainly at the peak of the unaided-eye era of the Milky Way's discovery. Through his own argumentation and in comparison to Ptolemy's observations Ibn al-Haytham clearly identifies the Galaxy as an extraterrestrial body that is not part of the atmosphere but much further away than the Moon. With some of his statements on the stellar positions passed down by Ptolemy, Ibn al-Haytham also anticipates the concept of stellar proper motions.

Galactic orbits of stars

1966 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 93-97
Author(s):  
Richard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Globular Cluster ◽  
Potential Field ◽  
High Velocity ◽  
Velocity Vector ◽  
Variable Stars ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Rr Lyrae ◽  
The Galaxy

It is now possible to determine proper motions of high-velocity objects in such a way as to obtain with some accuracy the velocity vector relevant to the Sun. If a potential field of the Galaxy is assumed, one can compute an actual orbit. A determination of the velocity of the globular clusterωCentauri has recently been completed at Greenwich, and it is found that the orbit is strongly retrograde in the Galaxy. Similar calculations may be made, though with less certainty, in the case of RR Lyrae variable stars.

scholarly journals Phase referencing VLBI astrometry observation system: VERA

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S248) ◽  
pp. 148-155
Author(s):  
H. Kobayashi ◽  
N. Kawaguchi ◽  
S. Manabe ◽  
K. M. Shibata ◽  
M. Honma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Observation System ◽  
Baseline Length ◽  
Radio Telescopes ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Japanese Archipelago ◽  
Vlbi Observations ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Galaxy

AbstractVERA aims at astrometric observations using phase referencing VLBI techniques, whose goal is a 10 micro arc-second accuracy for annual parallax measurements. VERA has four 20-m diameter VLBI radio telescopes in Japanese archipelago with the maximum baseline length of 2,300 km. They have the two-beam observing system, which makes simultaneous observations of two objects possible. This leads to very accurate phase referencing VLBI observations. An important science goal is to make a 3-dimensional map of the Galaxy and reveal its dynamics. In order to achieve this, VERA has the 22GHz and 43GHz bands for H2O and SiO maser objects, respectively. Maser objects are compact and suitable for astrometry observations. VERA's construction was started in 2000 and the array became operational in 2004. We have already measured annual parallaxes and proper motions of some galactic objects. In the future, VERA will collaborate with Korean and Chinese VLBI stations.

scholarly journals Orbits of Galactic Globular Clusters from Schmidt Plate Astrometry

1994 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 453-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Odenkirchen ◽  
R.-D. Scholz ◽  
M.J. Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Mass Model ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Galactic Globular Clusters

We present results from orbit integrations for the globular clusters M 3 and M 92. Absolute proper motions recently measured from Tautenburg Schmidt plates and a three-component mass model for the Galaxy have been used to derive the galactic orbits of these clusters. Orbital parameters and the influence of observational uncertainties on the determination of the orbits are discussed.

scholarly journals The Luyten – Control Data Stellar Proper Motion Measuring Machine

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
James Newcomb
Keyword(s):  
Proper Motion ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Control Data ◽  
Stellar Proper Motions ◽  
Measurement Function ◽  
Measuring Machine ◽  
Motion Measurements

The discovery and measurement of stellar proper motions has always been associated with machines: for proper motion measurements involve four activities: observation, recording, comparison and measurement. Participation by the astronomer in these activities has step by step been replaced partically or wholly by machines. First the observation and recording functions changed from visual to photographic – with the fine guiding done by the astronomer; then the comparison by the blink microscope and the measurement by visually operated measuring machines. On a comparative time scale, the next step – automation of the comparison and measurement function – has been much money, time, and effort away from the previous steps, but as this presentation and other presentations at this conference will show, machines of varying degrees of automation and astronomer participation are now in operation.

scholarly journals Proper Motions With Respect to the Extragalactic Reference Frame

1990 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 407-417
Author(s):  
A. R. Klemola
Keyword(s):  
Reference Frame ◽  
Proper Motion ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Stellar Proper Motions

The Lick proper motion program, one of several using galaxies as a reference frame, is summarized with a statement of work accomplished for the non-Milky Way sky. The problem of identifying relatively transparent regions at low galactic latitudes is discussed, with tabular results presented for 41 windows from the literature having observable galaxies. These fields may be helpful for attaching stellar proper motions directly to the extragalactic frame.

scholarly journals Two Astrometric Projects: LIGHT (Light Interferometer Satellite for the studies of Galactic Halo Tracers) and MIRA (Mitaka/Mauna Kea/Maui Optical and Infra-Red Interferometer Array)

1997 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 561-566
Author(s):  
M. Yoshizawa ◽  
K. Sato ◽  
J. Nishikawa ◽  
T. Fukushima ◽  
M. Miyamoto
Keyword(s):  
Galactic Halo ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Proper Motions ◽  
Infra Red ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Galactic Astronomy ◽  
Fringe Patterns ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Ccd Arrays ◽  
Better Than

AbstractThe projects LIGHT and MIRA are the space-borne and ground-based optical/Infrared-interferometer projects of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The contents of each project are gradually developing, and the descriptions given below are the preliminary ones studied at the present time.LIGHT (Light Interferometer satellite for the studies of Galactic Halo Tracers) is a scanning astrometric satellite for stellar and galactic astronomy planned to be launched between 2007 and 2010 by a M-V launcher of ISAS, Japan. Two sets of Fizeau-type 40cm-pupil interferometers with 1 m baseline are the basic structure of the satellite optics. The multi-color (U, B, V, R, I, and K) CCD arrays are planned to be used in the focal plane of the interferometer, optimized for detecting the precise locations of fringe patterns. LIGHT is expected to observe the parallaxes and proper motions of nearly a hundred million stars up to 18th visual (15thK-band) magnitude with the precision better than 0.1 milli-arcsecond (about 50 microarcsecond in V-band and 90 micro-arcsecond in K-band) in parallaxes and better than 0.1 milli-arcsecond per year in proper motions, as well as the precise photometric characteristics of the observed stars. Almost all of the giant and supergiant stars belonging to the disk and halo components of our Galaxy within 10 to 15 kpc from the sun will be observed by LIGHT to study the most fundamental structure and evolution of the Galaxy. LIGHT will become a precursor of a more sophisticated future astrometric interferometer satellite like GAIA (Lindegren and Perryman, 1996).

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.

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