Award-winning astronomers are willing to dig deeper into the Milky Way through Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a supermassive black hole that is at the center of the Milky Way. Its stars, S2 S29, S38, and S55, are moving in aways that show the mass in the center of the Milky Way is due to the black hole. Therefore, this leaves little room for anything else, according to SciTechDaily.
With the use of advanced astronomical facilities, such as the Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS), NSF's NOIRLab, SINFONI instrument, and the GRAVITY instrument, these will help astronomers dive deeper.
Following the 2020 Nobel prize in physics awarded due to the Sgr A* confirmation is a black hole, astronomers are now eager to dig deeper to understand if there's anything else hidden at the center of the galaxy. They will also apply Albert Einstein's general relativity theory in a laboratory.
The astronomers will closely follow the orbits of the stars that are passing close to Sgr A*.
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General Theory of Relativity
This is a theory of physics that explains the effects of gravity on massive objects. It was developed in the early twentieth century by Albert Einstein.
Researchers will observe the stars and will monitor the stars' orbits over a long period, suggesting that other objects are influencing their orbits. The stars could indicate a kind of 'behemoth', which is located close to the center of the galaxy.
They will patiently observe the orbits of the stars around Sgr A* and will wait for some of them to pass the black hole, at which point it will examine the motion of the stars to see if the stars are influenced by the black hole or perhaps another massive object.
The team of researchers will also apply Einstein's general relativity theory in a laboratory. This theory will help them to predict the future of stars passing through the black hole using a theory of gravity that indicates that space and time are interwoven.
The observations will also help scientists to understand whether the Milky Way is moving more slowly than expected due to the enormous gravity of its central black hole or if there are other hidden objects that are affecting the galaxy's outer stars.
Sagittarius A*
Sagittarius A* is at the very center of the Milky Way and is approximately 26,000 light-years away from the Earth. This region is marked by intense radio emissions and a bright source of infrared emission that are probably radiating from one or more massive stars and the bursting of a star into a supernova.
Stefan Gillensen, one of the astronomers involved in this work, said, "We hope to detect more than we see now, giving us a unique and unambiguous way to measure the rotation of the black hole."
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Written by April Fowell
