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15 years of high precision astrometry in the Galactic Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2007

S. Gillessen ,
R. Genzel ,
F. Eisenhauer ,
T. Ott ,
S. Trippe  and
F. Martins
S. Gillessen
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
R. Genzel
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
F. Eisenhauer
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
T. Ott
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
S. Trippe
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
F. Martins
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestial physics email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
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Abstract

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In 1992, we obtained the first observations of S2 a star close to the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. In 2002, S2 passed its periastron and in 2007, it completed a first fully observed revolution. This orbit allowed us to determine the mass of and the distance to the supermassive black hole with unprecedented accuracy. Here we present a re-analysis of the data set, enhancing the astrometric accuracy to 0.5 mas and increasing the number of well-determined stellar orbits to roughly 15. This allows to constrain the extended mass distribution around the massive black hole and will lead in the near future to the detection of post-Newtonian effects. We will also give an outlook on the potential of interferometric near-infrared astrometry with 10 microarcsecond accuracy from the VLTI.

Keywords

Galaxy: centerastrometryinfrared: starsinstrumentation: interferometers
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 3 , Symposium S248: A Giant Step: from Milli- to Micro-arcsecond Astrometry , October 2007 , pp. 466 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

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