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On the prospects of imaging Sagittarius A* from space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2020

Freek Roelofs Open the ORCID record for Freek Roelofs [Opens in a new window] ,
Heino Falcke ,
Christiaan Brinkerink ,
Monika Moscibrodzka ,
Leonid I. Gurvits ,
Manuel Martin-Neira ,
Volodymyr Kudriashov ,
Marc Klein-Wolt ,
Remo Tilanus  and
Michael Kramer Open the ORCID record for Michael Kramer [Opens in a new window]
...Show all authors
Freek Roelofs
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl
Heino Falcke
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
Christiaan Brinkerink
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl
Monika Moscibrodzka
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl
Leonid I. Gurvits
Affiliation:
Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC, P.O. Box 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Department of Astrodynamics and Space Missions, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands
Manuel Martin-Neira
Affiliation:
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), The European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Volodymyr Kudriashov
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl
Marc Klein-Wolt
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl
Remo Tilanus
Affiliation:
Department of Astrophysics, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: f.roelofs@astro.ru.nl Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Michael Kramer
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
Luciano Rezzolla
Affiliation:
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 1, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany
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Abstract

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Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at sub-millimeter waves has the potential to image the shadow of the black hole in the Galactic Center, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), and thereby test basic predictions of the theory of general relativity. We investigate the imaging prospects of a new Space VLBI mission concept. The setup consists of two satellites in polar or equatorial circular Medium-Earth Orbits with slightly different radii, resulting in a dense spiral-shaped uv-coverage with long baselines, allowing for extremely high-resolution and high-fidelity imaging of radio sources. We simulate observations of a general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics model of Sgr A* for this configuration with noise calculated from model system parameters. After gridding the uv-plane and averaging visibilities accumulated over multiple months of integration, images of Sgr A* with a resolution of up to 4 μ as could be reconstructed, allowing for stronger tests of general relativity and accretion models than with ground-based VLBI.

Keywords

Galaxy: centertechniques: interferometrictechniques: high angular resolution
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 14 , Symposium S342: Perseus in Sicily: From Black Hole to Cluster Outskirts , May 2018 , pp. 24 - 28
Copyright
© International Astronomical Union 2020

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