Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T00:22:00.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The distance to the Galactic Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2013

Stefan Gillessen ,
Frank Eisenhauer ,
Tobias K. Fritz ,
Oliver Pfuhl ,
Thomas Ott  and
Reinhard Genzel
Stefan Gillessen
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected]
Frank Eisenhauer
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected]
Tobias K. Fritz
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected]
Oliver Pfuhl
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected]
Thomas Ott
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected]
Reinhard Genzel
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany email: [email protected] Department of Physics & Astronomy, Le Conte Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

One of the Milky Way's fundamental parameters is the distance of the Sun from the Galactic Center, R0. This article reviews the various ways of estimating R0, placing special emphasis on methods that have become possible recently. In particular, we focus on the geometric distance estimate made possible thanks to observations of individual stellar orbits around the massive black hole at the center of the Galaxy. The specific issues of concern there are the degeneracies with other parameters, most importantly the mass of the black hole and the definition of the reference frame. The current uncertainty is nevertheless only a few percent, with error bars shrinking every year.

Keywords

Galaxy: centerGalaxy: fundamental parameters
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 8 , Symposium S289: Advancing the Physics of Cosmic Distances , August 2012 , pp. 29 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2013

References

Baade, W. 1951, Publ. Obs. Mich., 7, 10Google Scholar
Babusiaux, C. & Gilmore, G. 2005, MNRAS, 358, 1309Google Scholar
Bardeen, J. M. 1973, in: Black Holes (DeWitt, C., & DeWitt, B.S., eds.), New York: Gordon & Breach, p. 215Google Scholar
Bartko, H., Martins, F., Fritz, T., et al. 2009, ApJ, 697, 1741Google Scholar
Beloborodov, A. M. & Levin, Y. 2004, ApJ, 613, 224Google Scholar
Bica, E., Bonatto, C., Barbuy, B., & Ortolani, S. 2006, A&A, 450, 105Google Scholar
Binney, J. J., Gerhard, O., & Spergel, D. 1997, MNRAS, 288, 365Google Scholar
Dambis, A. K. 2009, MNRAS, 396, 553Google Scholar
Doeleman, S. S., Agol, E., Backer, D., et al., 2008, ASTRO2010 Decadal Review Science White Paper (arXiv/0906.3899)Google Scholar
Eisenhauer, F., Schödel, R., Genzel, R., Ott, T., Tecza, M., Abuter, R., Eckart, A., & Alexander, T. 2003, ApJ, 597, L121Google Scholar
Eisenhauer, F., Genzel, R., Alexander, T., et al. 2005, ApJ, 628, 246Google Scholar
Falcke, H., Melia, F., & Agol, E. 2000, Rev. Mod. Phys., 528, L13Google Scholar
Fernley, J. A., Longmore, A. J., Jameson, R. F., Watson, F. G., & Wesselink, T. 1987, MNRAS, 226, 927Google Scholar
Fritz, T. K., Gillessen, S., Trippe, S., et al. 2010, MNRAS, 401, 1177Google Scholar
Fritz, T. K., Gillessen, S., Dodds-Eden, K., et al. 2011, ApJ, 737, 73Google Scholar
Genzel, R., Eisenhauer, F., & Gillessen, S. 2010, Rev. Mod. Phys., 82, 3121Google Scholar
Ghez, A. M., Salim, S., Hornstein, S. D., Tanner, A., Lu, J. R., Morris, M. R., Becklin, E. E., & Duchêne, G. 2005, ApJ, 620, 744Google Scholar
Ghez, A. M., Salim, S., Weinberg, N. N., et al. 2008, ApJ, 689, 1044Google Scholar
Gillessen, S., Eisenhauer, F., Trippe, S., Alexander, T., Genzel, R., Martins, F., & Ott, T. 2009a, ApJ, 692, 1075Google Scholar
Gillessen, S., Eisenhauer, F., Fritz, T. K., Bartko, H., Dodds-Eden, K., Pfuhl, O., Ott, T., & Genzel, R. 2009b, ApJ, 707, L114Google Scholar
Groenewegen, M. A. T., & Blommaert, J. A. D. L. 2005, A&A, 443, 143Google Scholar
Groenewegen, M. A. T., Udalski, A., & Bono, G. 2008, A&A, 481, 441Google Scholar
Gwinn, C. R., Moran, J. M., & Reid, M. J. 1992, ApJ, 393, 149Google Scholar
Honma, M. & Sofue, Y. 1996, PASJ, 48, L103Google Scholar
Johannsen, T., Psaltis, D., Gillessen, S., Marrone, D. P., Özel, F., Doeleman, S. S., & Fish, V. L. 2012, ApJ, 758, 30Google Scholar
Joy, A. H. 1939, ApJ, 89, 356Google Scholar
Lu, J. R., Ghez, A. M., Morris, M. R., Becklin, E. E., & Matthews, K. 2009, ApJ, 690, 1463Google Scholar
Majaess, D. 2010, Acta Astron., 60, 55Google Scholar
Matsunaga, N., Kawadu, T., Nishiyama, S., Nagayama, T., Hatano, H., Tamura, M., Glass, I. S., & Nagata, T. 2009, MNRAS, 399, 1709CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsunaga, N., Kawadu, T., Nishiyama, S., et al. 2011, Nature, 477, 188Google Scholar
Metzger, M. R., Caldwell, J. A. R., & Schechter, P. L. 1988, AJ, 115, 635Google Scholar
Morris, M. R., Meyer, L., & Ghez, A. M. 2012, RAA, 12, 955Google Scholar
Nishiyama, S., Nagata, T., Sato, S., et al. 2006, ApJ, 647, 1093Google Scholar
Paczyński, B. & Stanek, K. Z. 1998, ApJ, 494, L219Google Scholar
Paumard, T., Genzel, R., Martins, F., et al. 2006, ApJ, 643, 1011Google Scholar
Reid, M. J., Schneps, M. H., Moran, J. M., Gwinn, C. R., Genzel, R., Downes, D., & Roennaeng, B. 1988, ApJ, 330, 809Google Scholar
Reid, M. J. 1993, ARA&A, 31, 345Google Scholar
Reid, M. J. & Brunthaler, A. 2004, ApJ, 616, 872Google Scholar
Reid, M. J. 2008, Proc. IAU, 248, 141Google Scholar
Reid, M. J., Menten, K. M., Zheng, X. W., Brunthaler, A., & Xu, Y. 1988, ApJ, 705, 1548Google Scholar
Rybicki, G., Lecar, M., & Schaefer, M. 1974, BAAS, 6, 45Google Scholar
Salim, S. & Gould, A. 1999, ApJ, 523, 633Google Scholar
Shapley, H. 1918, ApJ, 48, 154Google Scholar
Schödel, R., Ott, T., Genzel, R., et al. 2002, Nature, 419, 694CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trippe, S., Gillessen, S., Gerhard, O., et al. 2008, A&A, 492, 419Google Scholar
van den Hulst, H. C., Muller, C. A., & Oort, J. H. 1954, Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth., 12, 117Google Scholar
Vanhollebeke, E., Groenewegen, M. A. T., & Girardi, L. 2009, A&A, 498, 95Google Scholar