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SUMMARY:Bringing our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole and its Environs int
 o Focus with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics - Andrea Ghez\, UCLA
DTSTART:20090312T163000Z
DTEND:20090312T173000Z
UID:TALK15295@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:12940
DESCRIPTION:The proximity of our Galaxy's center presents a unique opportu
 nity to\nstudy a\nmassive black hole and its environs with much higher spa
 tial resolution\nthan can be brought to bear on any other galaxy.  After m
 ore than a\ndecade of\nastrometry from diffraction-limited speckle imaging
  on large ground-\nbased telescopes\,\nthe case for a supermassive black h
 ole at the Galactic center has\ndramatically improved\, thanks to measurem
 ents of\nindividual stellar orbits.  The advent of adaptive optics\ntechno
 logy has further revolutionized our studies of the Galactic\ncenter.\nIn t
 his talk\, I will present the results of several new adaptive optics\nstud
 ies on (1) our current understanding of the galaxy's\ncentral gravitationa
 l potential\, (2) the puzzling problem of\nhow young stars form in the imm
 ediate vicinity of the central black hole\n(3) the characteristics of the 
 under-luminous emission associated with\nthe\ncentral black hole (L = 10^-
 9 L_ed)\, and (4) the role of future large ground-based telescope to these
  studies.\n
LOCATION:Sackler Lecture Theatre\, IoA (tea at 4:00 pm)
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