Related papers: The nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way
Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) are located at the photometric and dynamical centers of the majority of galaxies. They are among the densest star clusters in the Universe. The NSC in the Milky Way is the only object of this class that can be…
Because of its nearness to Earth, the centre of the Milky Way is the only galaxy nucleus in which we can study the characteristics, distribution, kinematics, and dynamics of the stars on milli-parsec scales. We have accurate and precise…
Nuclear star clusters are located at the dynamical centers of the majority of galaxies. They are usually the densest and most massive star cluster in their host galaxy. In this article, I will give a brief overview of our current knowledge…
This article intends to provide a concise overview, from an observational point-of-view, of the current state of our knowledge of the most relevant properties of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster (MWNSC). The MWNSC appears to be a…
Like many other late-type galaxies, the Milky Way contains a nuclear star cluster. In this work we obtain the basic properties of its dominant old stellar population. Firstly, we derive its structural properties by constructing a stellar…
High spatial resolution, near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of the nuclear star cluster have given key new insights about the dynamics, evolution and mass distribution in the Milky Way Center. The central parsec is powered by a cluster…
In the center of the Milky Way, as well as in many other galaxies, a compact star cluster around a very massive black hole is observed. One of the possible explanations for the formation of such Nuclear Star Clusters is based on the…
We present high-resolution seeing limited and AO NIR imaging observations of the stellar cluster within about one parsec of Sgr A*, the massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Stellar number counts and the diffuse background…
The Galactic Center is an excellent laboratory for studying phenomena and physical processes that may be occurring in many other galactic nuclei. The Center of our Milky Way is by far the closest galactic nucleus, and observations with…
Nuclear Star Clusters are observed at the center of many galaxies. In particular in the center of the Milky Way the Nuclear Star Cluster coexists with a cen- tral supermassive black hole. The origin of these clusters is still unknown; a…
Here we present the fundamental properties of the nuclear cluster of the Milky Way. First, we derive its structural properties by constructing a density map of the central 1000'' using extinction-corrected star counts. We can describe the…
Sagittarius A*, the super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, is surrounded by a small cluster of high velocity stars, known as the S-stars. We aim to constrain the amount and nature of stellar and dark mass associated with…
The Milky Way nuclear star cluster (MW NSC) has been used as a template to understand the origin and evolution of galactic nuclei and the interaction of nuclear star clusters with supermassive black holes. It is the only nuclear star…
This is the second of three papers that search for the predicted stellar cusp around the Milky Way's central black hole, Sagittarius A*, with new data and methods. We aim to infer the distribution of the faintest stellar population…
(abridged) In this paper we revisit the problem of inferring the innermost structure of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster via star counts, to clarify whether it displays a core or a cusp around the central black hole. Through image…
The centre of the Milky Way is occupied by a nuclear star cluster, which contains the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The cluster is embedded in the larger surrounding nuclear stellar disc. These three components dominate the mass budget of…
(abridged) In this paper we aim at determining the shape, size, and luminosity/mass of the Milky Way Nuclear Star Cluster (MWNSC). We use Spitzer/IRAC images at 3.6 and 4.5 micrometer, where interstellar extinction is at a minimum but the…
The Milky Way nuclear star cluster (MWNSC) is located together with its surrounding nuclear stellar disc (MWNSD) in the Galactic centre and they dominate the gravitational potential within the inner 300\,pc. However, the formation and…
With its extreme density of stars and stellar remnants, dense young massive clusters, high specific star formation rate, intense radiation field, high magnetic field strength, and properties of the interstellar medium that resemble those in…
The region bounded by the inner tens of light years at the center of the Milky Way contains five principal components that coexist within the central deep gravitational potential well. These constituents are a black hole candidate (Sgr~A*)…