A population of dust-enshrouded objects orbiting the Galactic black hole

Anna Ciurlo (), Randall D. Campbell, Mark R. Morris, Tuan Do, Andrea M. Ghez, Aurélien Hees, Breann N. Sitarski, Kelly Kosmo O’Neil, Devin S. Chu, Gregory D. Martinez, Smadar Naoz and Alexander P. Stephan
Additional contact information
Anna Ciurlo: University of California
Randall D. Campbell: W. M. Keck Observatory
Mark R. Morris: University of California
Tuan Do: University of California
Andrea M. Ghez: University of California
Aurélien Hees: SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, LNE
Breann N. Sitarski: Giant Magellan Telescope Organization
Kelly Kosmo O’Neil: University of California
Devin S. Chu: University of California
Gregory D. Martinez: University of California
Smadar Naoz: University of California
Alexander P. Stephan: University of California

Nature, 2020, vol. 577, issue 7790, 337-340

Abstract: Abstract The central 0.1 parsecs of the Milky Way host a supermassive black hole identified with the position of the radio and infrared source Sagittarius A* (refs. 1,2), a cluster of young, massive stars (the S stars3) and various gaseous features4,5. Recently, two unusual objects have been found to be closely orbiting Sagittarius A*: the so-called G sources, G1 and G2. These objects are unresolved (having a size of the order of 100 astronomical units, except at periapse, where the tidal interaction with the black hole stretches them along the orbit) and they show both thermal dust emission and line emission from ionized gas6–10. G1 and G2 have generated attention because they appear to be tidally interacting with the supermassive Galactic black hole, possibly enhancing its accretion activity. No broad consensus has yet been reached concerning their nature: the G objects show the characteristics of gas and dust clouds but display the dynamical properties of stellar-mass objects. Here we report observations of four additional G objects, all lying within 0.04 parsecs of the black hole and forming a class that is probably unique to this environment. The widely varying orbits derived for the six G objects demonstrate that they were commonly but separately formed.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1883-y

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