Sagittarius A*

Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a bright astronomical radio source at the center of the Milky Way. It is in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. 

The radio source is part of a larger astronomical feature known as Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A* is thought to be a supermassive black hole,Reynolds 2008 like those that are at the centers of most spiral and elliptical galaxies. Observations of the star S2 in orbit around Sagittarius A* were used to show the presence of the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole. This led to the conclusion that Sagittarius A* is the site of that black hole.Reynolds C. 2008. Astrophysics: bringing black holes into focus. Nature 455 (7209): 39–40. Bibcode:2008Natur.455...39R. doi:10.1038/455039a. PMID 18769426. Another star, S8, is orbiting Sagittarius A* along with many other stars. A star known as S14 has an extremely elliptical orbitand a star named S4716 has an orbital period of only 4 years.

Related pages
 Sagittarius A
 Sagittarius

References

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Category:Astronomical objects
Category:Milky Way