Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 338, Issue 6103, Pages 84-87Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1225506
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Funding
- NSF [AST 0909218]
- Levine-Leichtman Family Foundation
- W. M. Keck Foundation
- Ramon y Cajal program
- Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad [AYA2010-17631, AYA2009-13036, PA1002584]
- Junta de Andalucia [P08-TIC-4075]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [909218] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [909218] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Stars with short orbital periods at the center of our Galaxy offer a powerful probe of a supermassive black hole. Over the past 17 years, the W. M. Keck Observatory has been used to image the galactic center at the highest angular resolution possible today. By adding to this data set and advancing methodologies, we have detected S0-102, a star orbiting our Galaxy's supermassive black hole with a period of just 11.5 years. S0-102 doubles the number of known stars with full phase coverage and periods of less than 20 years. It thereby provides the opportunity, with future measurements, to resolve degeneracies in the parameters describing the central gravitational potential and to test Einstein's theory of general relativity in an unexplored regime.
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