Search

The article looks at the Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) black hole at the center of the Milky Way, focusing on observations of the pending approach of the G2 gas cloud to the edge of the black hole in 2013. It is noted that U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) detected X-ray bursts from the black hole in 2012. The interaction of SgrA* with materials from G2 could produce X-ray and radio bursts similar to energy jets emitted by quasars.

The article focuses on the attempt of a team of astronomers led by Shep Doeleman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Haystack Observatory in Westford to look into a supermassive black hole code named Sagittarius A*. To do this, there are tying to combine together a network of microwave telescopes across the planet to create an instrument with the most acute vision. They are using the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) which they adapted to work at a ultra-short wavelength. They then took their hardware to mountaintop telescopes.

The article focuses on the radio telescope Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) which is making observations of supermassive black holes (SBH) and will image an event horizon. It states the EHT is made up of nine radio observatories, including one in Antarctica and four in the U.S. which operate simultaneously to function as a virtual telescope spanning the planet. It reports in April 2017 the EHT studied the SBH Sagittarius A* in the center of the Milky Way and the SBH in the center of the galaxy M87.

Seeing a black hole could reveal new physics, says Chelsea Whyte [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the observation of a star making a close approach to the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A, located at the center of the Milky Way, to help test physicist Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. It states researchers used four telescopes in Chile to measure the light of the star S2 and detected gravitational red shift caused by the black hole. It mentions the red shift occurred exactly as general relativity predicted.

The article looks at research by astronomers Joss Bland-Hawthon, Gregory Madsen and team on the glow from a supermassive black hole seen by early hominids 2 million years ago, caused by accretion and heating of active galactic nuclei (AGN). They speculated that light in the Magellanic stream of hydrogen gas resulted from AGN activity from at the Sagittarius A* black hole. Anthropologist Chris Stringer suggests that Australopithecus africanus was most likely observer of the black hole.

The article discusses a report published in "Nature" by astronomer Ralph Eatough and colleagues on the absorption of gas by the Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole, suggesting that a magnetic field from charged ions in the gas produces rotating jets of matter which slow the black hole feeding.

The article discusses 2013 reports from the European Southern Observatory that the Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole at the center of Earth's galaxy is beginning to swallow matter from the G2 gas cloud, a collision which could provide evidence of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

The article reports on research by physicist Stefan Gillessen and colleagues published in a 2011 issue of "Nature" about a gas cloud that is headed towards a black hole in our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, which may give astronomers a deeper understanding of black holes and quasars.