The Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way

Download or read book The Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way written by Andreas Eckart and published by Imperial College Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviewing the fundamental instrumental techniques and current observational results, this book unveils the mysteries of the physical processes in the central parsec of our Milky Way: the super-massive black hole embedded in a central stellar cluster as well as the gas and dust in the circumnuclear region. The observations described cover the entire electromagnetic spectrum from decimeter radio-waves to high energy X-ray and ?-rays, and a comprehensive summary of up-to-date astrophysical interpretations is given. The emphasis is put on observational techniques, image processing aspects, and a detailed presentation of the most cutting-edge work carried out in the near-infrared wavelength regime. These recent results include both the first orbits of stars around the central black hole and the multiwavelength variability of the central source.