Figure 1

IThe positions of the star S2, circling the Galactic center with a period of only 15.2 years, are shown for 16 observations made by Rainer Schödel and colleagues, from March 1992 to July 2002. The blue crosses indicate adaptive-optics imaging. The ellipse is the best Keplerian fit to these observations and the measured position (the red circle) of the radio source Sgr A*, presumed to be a supermassive black hole at the Galactic center. The fitted orbit, inclined 46° to the line of sight, has S2 approaching to within 17 light-hours of the black hole. (Adapted from ref. 1.)

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© 2003 American Institute of Physics