Astronomy:S0–102

From HandWiki
S0–102
Observation data
Equinox J2000.0]] (ICRS)
Constellation Sagittarius
Right ascension unknown[1]
Declination unknown[1]
Characteristics
Astrometry
Distance25,900±1,400 ly
(7,940±420 pc)
Orbit
CompanionSagittarius A*
Period (P)11.5 ± 0.3 yr
Eccentricity (e)0.68 ± 0.02
Inclination (i)151 ± 3°
Longitude of the node (Ω)175 ± 5°
Periastron epoch (T)2009.5 ± 0.3
Argument of periastron (ω)
(secondary)
185 ± 9°
Other designations
[GKM98] S0–102.
Database references
SIMBADdata

S0–102 is a star that is located very close to the centre of the Milky Way, near the radio source Sagittarius A*, orbiting it with an orbital period of 11.5 years. As of 2012 it is the star with the shortest known period orbiting the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. This beat the record of 15 years previously set by S0–2. The star was identified by a University of California, Los Angeles team headed by Andrea M. Ghez.[2] At its periapsis, its speed reaches over 1% of the speed of light.[3] At that point it is 260 astronomical units (36 light hours, 38.9 billion km) from the centre, while the black hole radius is only a small fraction of that size (the Schwarzschild radius is about 0.1 au).[4] It passed that point in 2009 and will be there again in 2020.[5]

Its position in the sky has been monitored from 2000 to 2012 using the W. M. Keck telescope. One complete orbit has been observed. From Earth's current perspective, it travels in a clockwise direction. Having observed two stars orbiting through complete periods around the centre (S0–102 and S0–2), the gravitational potential of SgrA* could be established.[6] It is also possible that there is a great deal of dark matter around the orbits of these stars.[7] Also general relativistic effects due to gravitational redshift should become observable.[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "[GKM98 S0–102"]. SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=%5BGKM98%5D+S0%E2%80%93102. 
  2. Stuart Wolpert (4 October 2012). "UCLA astronomers discover star racing around black hole at center of our galaxy". http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-astronomers-discover-star-239172.aspx. 
  3. "S0-102". 20 October 2012. http://www.xefer.com/2012/10/S0-102. 
  4. Lu, R. (2018). "Detection of intrinsic source structure at ~3 Schwarzschild radii with Millimeter-VLBI observations of Sgr A*". Astrophysical Journal 859 (1): 60. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aabe2e. 
  5. Emspak, Jesse (4 October 2012). "Speedy Star Swoops In Perilously Close to Milky Way's Giant Black Hole". http://www.space.com/17893-star-orbiting-milky-way-black-hole.html. Retrieved 5 July 2016. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Meyer, L.; Ghez, A. M.; Schödel, R.; Yelda, S.; Boehle, A.; Lu, J. R.; Do, T.; Morris, M. R. et al. (2012). "The Shortest-Known-Period Star Orbiting Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole". Science 338 (6103): 84–87. doi:10.1126/science.1225506. PMID 23042888. Bibcode2012Sci...338...84M. 
  7. Dokuchaev, V.I.; Eroshenko, Yu.N.; Klimkov, K.S. (2015). "Precession of Fast S0 Stars in the Vicinity of Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center". Physics Procedia 74: 292–296. doi:10.1016/j.phpro.2015.09.243. 

External links