Related papers: An Updated Reference Frame for the Galactic Inner …
Menten, Reid, Eckart and Genzel (1997) accurately determined the position of Sgr A* on an infrared image, by aligning the infrared image with positions measured for SiO masers, associated with infrared-bright evolved stars, at radio…
Precision measurements of the stars in short-period orbits around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center are now being used to constrain general relativistic effects, such as the gravitational redshift and periapse precession.…
In the first two papers of this series, we determined the position of Sgr A* on infrared images, by aligning the positions of red giant stars with positions measured at radio wavelengths for their circumstellar SiO masers. In this paper, we…
We present significantly improved proper motion measurements of the Milky Way's central stellar cluster. These improvements are made possible by refining our astrometric reference frame with a new geometric optical distortion model for the…
We report on the high-precision astrometric observations of maser sources around the Galactic Center in the SiO J=1--0 v=1 and 2 lines with the VLBA during 2001 -- 2004. With phase-referencing interferometry referred to the radio continuum…
Near-infrared observations of stellar orbits at the Galactic Center provide conclusive evidence for a massive black hole associated with the compact radio source Sgr A*. The astrometric reference frame for these observations is tied to a…
We present 3D velocity measurements and acceleration limits for stars within a few parsec of the Galactic Center (GC) black hole, Sgr A*, based on observations of 43 and 86 GHz circumstellar maser emission. Observations were taken with the…
We report progress on measuring the position of Sgr A* on infrared images, placing limits on the motion of the central star cluster relative to Sgr A*, and measuring the proper motionof Sgr A* itself. The position of Sgr A* has been…
Over a two year period (1995-1997), we have conducted a diffraction-limited imaging study at 2.2 microns of the inner 6"x6" of the Galaxy's central stellar cluster using the Keck 10-m telescope. The K band images obtained reveal a large…
We present the first high-precision proper motion catalog, tied to the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS), of infrared astrometric reference stars within R $\leq$ 25" (1 pc) of the central supermassive black hole at the…
We have surveyed 401 color selected IRAS sources in the Galactic disk in the SiO J=1--0 v= 1 and 2 maser lines at 43 GHz, resulting in 254 (239 new) detections. The observed sources lie mostly in a strip of the inner Galactic disk with…
We present the results of an SiO maser survey for color-selected IRAS sources in the area 40 < l < 70 and |b| < 10 in the SiO J=1-0, v=1 and 2 transitions. We detected 134 out of 272 observed sources in SiO masers; 127 were new detections.…
Observations of dust-enshrouded evolved stars selected from infrared catalogs requiring high positional accuracy, like infrared spectroscopy or long baseline radio interferometric observations, often require preparational observational…
Proper motions and radial velocities of luminous infrared stars in the galactic center have provided strong evidence for a dark mass of 2.5 million solar masses in the central 0.05 pc of the galaxy. The leading hypothesis for this mass is a…
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a strong, compact radio source believed to be powered by a super-massive black hole at the galactic center. Extinction by dust and gas in the galactic plane prevents observing it optically, but its position and…
We present new, more precise measurements of the mass and distance of our Galaxy's central supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. These results stem from a new analysis that more than doubles the time baseline for astrometry of faint stars…
We report measurements with the VLBA of the position of Sgr A* with respect to two extragalactic radio sources over a period of eight years. The apparent proper motion of \sgrab relative to J1745-283 is 6.379 +/- 0.024 mas/y along a…
We surveyed 291 MSX/2MASS infrared objects in the 7 x 2 deg area of the galactic center in the 43 GHz SiO J=1--0 v=1 and 2 maser lines, obtaining accurate radial velocities of 163 detected objects. The surveyed area is the region where the…
Measuring stellar motions at the Milky Way's Galactic center (GC) provides unique insight into the dynamical processes within galactic nuclei. We present proper motion measurements for 23 SiO-maser emitting stars within 45'' of SgrA*,…
We present new proper motion measurements and simultaneous orbital solutions for three newly identified (S0-16, S0-19, and S0-20) and four previously known (S0-1, S0-2, S0-4, and S0-5) stars at the Galactic Center. This analysis pinpoints…