Proper motion of the compact, nonthermal radio source in the galactic center

Conference · Wed Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · AIP Conf. Proc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7059145

Backer, D C; Sramek, R A

Observations with the VLA for four epochs from 1981 to 1985 have resulted in the first two-axis measurement of the proper motion of the compact, nonthermal radio source in the galactic eenter, Sgr A*. This result considerably improves our past single-axis measurement (Backer and Sramek 1982). The observed motion is consistent with that expected for an object in the galactic center whose peculiar velocity is no larger than 40 r km s/sup -1/, where r is the distance to the galactic center in units of 8.5 kpc. If there is a massive black hole in the galactic center, then these observations suggest that the radio emission must be coming from a synchrotron corona surrounding the hole. The converse is not true: these observations, by themselves and at their present level of accuracy, do not require the existence of a massive black hole.

• Research Organization: Radio Astronomy Laboratory and Astronomy Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
• OSTI ID: 7059145
• Report Number(s): CONF-8610211-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conf. Proc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 155:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102 -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
MILKY WAY
MOTION
PROPER MOTION
RADIATIONS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION