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This is a
picture of the stars near the center of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It is
now virtually certain that a black hole with a total mass of 2 million times
that of our sun is located at the center of the Milky Way. Astronomers have
come to this conclusion by closely following over a long time period the
orbits of the stars closest to the galactic center. In one particular
case, using one of the Paranal
Observatory's very large telescopes and a sophisticated infrared camera,
astronomers patiently followed the orbit of a particular star, designated S2,
as it came within about 17 light-hours of the center of the Milky Way
(17 light-hours is only about 3 times the radius of Pluto's orbit). This
star’s motion suggested that it was
moving in the gravitational field of a supermassive black hole.
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