Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre

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dc.creatorDoeleman, Sheperd
dc.creatorWeintroub, Jonathan
dc.creatorRogers, Alan E. E.
dc.creatorPlambeck, Richard
dc.creatorFreund, Robert
dc.creatorTilanus, Remo P. J.
dc.creatorFriberg, Per
dc.creatorZiurys, Lucy M.
dc.creatorMoran, James M.
dc.creatorCorey, Brian
dc.creatorYoung, Ken H.
dc.creatorSmythe, Daniel L.
dc.creatorTitus, Michael
dc.creatorMarrone, Daniel P.
dc.creatorCappallo, Roger J.
dc.creatorBock, Douglas C. J.
dc.creatorBower, Geoffrey C.
dc.creatorChamberlin, Richard
dc.creatorDavis, Gary R.
dc.creatorKrichbaum, Thomas P.
dc.creatorLamb, James
dc.creatorManess, Holly
dc.creatorNiell, Arthur E.
dc.creatorRoy, Alan
dc.creatorStrittmatter, Peter
dc.creatorWerthimer, Daniel
dc.creatorWhitney, Alan R.
dc.creatorWoody, David
dc.date2008-09-15
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:02:49Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:02:49Z
dc.descriptionThe cores of most galaxies are thought to harbour supermassive black holes, which power galactic nuclei by converting the gravitational energy of accreting matter into radiation (ref 1). Sagittarius A*, the compact source of radio, infrared and X-ray emission at the centre of the Milky Way, is the closest example of this phenomenon, with an estimated black hole mass that is 4 million times that of the Sun (refs. 2,3). A long-standing astronomical goal is to resolve structures in the innermost accretion flow surrounding Sgr A* where strong gravitational fields will distort the appearance of radiation emitted near the black hole. Radio observations at wavelengths of 3.5 mm and 7 mm have detected intrinsic structure in Sgr A*, but the spatial resolution of observations at these wavelengths is limited by interstellar scattering (refs. 4-7). Here we report observations at a wavelength of 1.3 mm that set a size of 37 (+16, -10; 3-sigma) microarcseconds on the intrinsic diameter of Sgr A*. This is less than the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the presumed black hole, suggesting that the bulk of SgrA* emission may not be not centred on the black hole, but arises in the surrounding accretion flow.
dc.description12 pages including 2 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2442
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2442
dc.identifierNature, vol 455, p 78, 2008
dc.identifierdoi:10.1038/nature07245
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/169108
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleEvent-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre
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