Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R 0 , the distance to the Galactic center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A* that we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A* with an accuracy as good as 20 μ as in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km s −1 , this yields a geometric distance estimate of R 0 = 8178 ± 13 stat. ± 22 sys. pc. This work updates our previous publication, in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20 σ with f redshift = 1.04 ± 0.05.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: R. Abuter, A. Amorim, M. Bauböck, J. P. Berger, H. Bonnet, W. Brandner, Y. Clénet, V. Coudé du Foresto, P. T. de Zeeuw, J. Dexter, G. Duvert, A. Eckart, F. Eisenhauer, N. M. Förster Schreiber, P. Garcia, F. Gao, E. Gendron, R. Genzel, O. Gerhard, S. Gillessen, M. Habibi, X. Haubois, T. Henning, S. Hippler, M. Horrobin, A. Jiménez-Rosales, L. Jocou, P. Kervella, S. Lacour, V. Lapeyrère, J.-B. Le Bouquin, P. Léna, T. Ott, T. Paumard, K. Perraut, G. Perrin, O. Pfuhl, S. Rabien, G. Rodriguez Coira, G. Rousset, S. Scheithauer, A. Sternberg, O. Straub, C. Straubmeier, E. Sturm, L. J. Tacconi, F. Vincent, S. von Fellenberg, I. Waisberg, F. Widmann, E. Wieprecht, E. Wiezorrek, J. Woillez, S. Yazici
Institutions: European Southern Observatory, University of Lisbon, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique, Leiden University, Leiden Observatory, University of Cologne, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Universidade do Porto, University of California, Berkeley, European Southern Observatory, Tel Aviv University, Flatiron Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $1,680
Funders: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Observatoire de Paris, Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W2950494852