SgrA*

[glenc]

SgrA* is in the middle of our galaxy. You can't see the middle of our galaxy in visible light but this SkyMapPro map shows its location.
The map shows the variable star 3 Sgr (lower left) at 10pm tonight and the galactic center.
The nearest star to SgrA* is the mag 12.4 blue star next to the 0 degrees mark on the line.
It is 74 arc-mins from the mag 4.5 star 3 Sgr towards the open cluster M6.
The map is 2 degrees high with north on the left.
What are you looking at? Here is some detail http://discovermagazine.com/1998/nov/themysteriousmid1534

[Robh]

Thanks Glen,
Interesting article.
Love the descriptor of the Milky Way's black hole as the Great Annihilator, Sgr A*.
Fascinating theory about the cycle of Seyfert periods/Quiet periods/Starburst periods around the black hole.

Regards, Rob.

[glenc]

This diagram helps us know what we are looking at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Milky_Way_Arms.svg
It comes from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
I like this image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Milky_Way_IR_Spitzer.jpg

[glenc]

The attached wikisky.org image shows the bright star 3 Sgr near the top and the bright nebula Sh2-16 near the bottom.
SgrA* is at the bottom of the yellow line, between Sh2-16 and Sh2-17. North is at the top.
Info on SgrA* is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*
A X-ray image is at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2003/0203long/

[glenc]

Milky Way’s Giant Black Hole Awoke from Slumber 300 Years Ago
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/blackhole_slumber.html

"By observing how this cloud lit up and faded over 10 years, we could trace back the black hole’s activity 300 years ago," says team member Katsuji Koyama of Kyoto University. "The black hole was a million times brighter three centuries ago. It must have unleashed an incredibly powerful flare."

[RobF]

I wonder if it would have been visible in any way when it was a million times brighter...?

[astroron]

Probably Not Rob as there is a lot of Dust between us and the Galactic center.
The only ways we can see the center is with Radio, infrared or UV and X-ray:thumbsup:

[RobF]

Hopefully most of the X-rays are/were heading out perpendicular to the galactic disk too.......

[glenc]

This image shows the Milky Way and Sgr A* at 10 different wavelengths.
http://mwmw.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmw_product.html#viewgraph

[glenc]

Today's APOD shows the MW's center in IR light. If you click on it you will get a 29.5 MB image.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090614.html

Yesterday's image shows the MW's center, below M8, in visible light as a heavenly road.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090613.html

These two images also show the center of the MW. The first image is a close up.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051023.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040411.html

[glenc]

Great Observatories Explore Galactic Center
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091111.html
Pictured above (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/28/full/), in greater detail and in more colors than ever seen before, are the combined images of the Hubble Space Telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html) in near-infrard light, the Spitzer Space Telescope (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml) in infrared light, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=CHANDRA) in X-ray light. A menagerie of vast star fields is visible (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090107.html), along with dense star clusters, long filaments of gas and dust, expanding supernova remnants, and the energetic surroundings (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080427.html) of what likely is our Galaxy's central (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36xZsgZ0oSo) black hole. Many of these features are labeled on a complementary annotated image (http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2009-28-g-compass_large_web.jpg).
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2009-28-g-compass_large_web.jpg