The Milky Way's nuclear star cluster and massive black hole

2014/08/01 by Rainer Schödel, R. Schödel
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Black hole (networking) #Computer science #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Milky Way #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Sagittarius #Star cluster #Star count #Stars #Stellar kinematics #Supermassive black hole #astro-ph.GA

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921315008029

Contribution to IAU Symposium 312

openalex publication_date 2014/08/01 · arxiv created 2015/02/11 · arxiv updated 2017/08/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Because of its nearness to Earth, the centre of the Milky Way is the only galaxy nucleus in which we can study the characteristics, distribution, kinematics, and dynamics of the stars on milli-parsec scales. We have accurate and precise measurements of the Galactic centre's central black hole, Sagittarius A*, and can study its interaction with the surrounding nuclear star cluster in detail. This contribution aims at providing a concise overview of our current knowledge about the Milky Way's central black hole and nuclear star cluster, at highlighting the observational challenges and limitations, and at discussing some of the current key areas of investigation.

Citations

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