20 November 2008
20 November 2008
Speaker: Shep Doeleman (MIT / Haystack)
Title: Approaching the event horizon: submm-VLBI of SgrA*
Abstract:
There is now very strong evidence that SgrA*, the compact source of
radio, IR, and x-ray emission at the Galactic Center, marks the position
of a 4 million solar mass black hole. VLBI observations in April 2007
at a wavelength of 1.3mm have now confirmed structure in SgrA* on scales
of just a few Schwarzschild radii. More sensitive observations, using
additional VLBI stations, are planned over the next few years, and will
be sensitive to time variable structures predicted by models of flaring
activity in SgrA*. I will describe the instrumentation efforts that
enable these observations, and discuss what current and future VLBI
observations of SgrA* tell us about this closest super-massive black
hole.
Video of the Presentation
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