Abstract
THE existence of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy was proposed by Lynden-Bell and Rees1, and the later discovery of a bright compact radio source (SgrA*) at the Galactic Centre2 suggested the presence of a central exciting source3. Recently, Yusef-Zadeh et al.4 reported faint extended radio structures (the 'satellite radio features') which they interpreted as thermally emitting blobs of plasma physically associated with Sgr A*. These puzzling features could be taken as evidence for an outflowing wind from Sgr A*/IRS16 (a complex infrared source), but there was also a suspicion that they might be instrumental artefacts. We have re-observed the Galactic Centre using the Very Large Array, obtaining images at a wavelength of 2 cm with resolution of ∼0.1 arcsec (0.005 pc). The r.m.s. noise of 70 μJy per beam, with a dynamic range of 22,000:1, is comparable to that of ref. 4, but the new structures reported in ref. 4 do not appear in our observations. We discuss several ways that low-level artefacts near Sgr A* might have been generated. We also confirm the presence of a plume of emission 1 arcsec southwest of Sgr A*.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lynden-Bell, D. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 152, 461–475 (1971).
Balick, B. & Brown, R. L. Astrophys. J. 194, 265–270 (1974).
Lo, K. Y. lAU Symp, No. 136. The Centre of the Galaxy (ed. Morris, M.) 443–451, (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1989).
Yusef-Zadeh, F., Morris, M. & Ekers, R. D. Nature 348, 45–47 (1990).
Ekers, R. D., van Gorkom, J. H., Schwarz, U. J. & Goss, W. M. Astr. Astrophys. 122, 143–150 (1983).
Brown, R. L., Johnston, K. J. & Lo, K. Y. Astrophys. J. 250, 155–159 (1981).
Lo, K. Y. & Claussen, M. J., Nature 306, 647–651 (1983).
Roberts, D. A., Goss, W. M., van Gorkom, J. H. & Leahy, J. P. Astrophys. J. 366, L15–18 (1991).
van Gorkom, J. H., Schwarz, U. J. & Bregman, J. D. Proc. IAU Symp. No. 106 (eds van Woerden, H. Burton, W. B. & Allen, R. J.) 371–376, (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1985).
Serabyn, E. & Lacy, J. H. Astrophys. J. 293, 455–458 (1985).
Yusef-Zadeh, F., Morris, M. & Ekers, R. D. IAU Symp. No. 136, The Centre of The Galaxy (ed. Morris, M.) 443–451, (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1989).
Yusef-Zadeh, F. & Morris, M. Astrophys. J. 371, L63–67 (1991).
Cornwell, T. & Fomalont, E. B. Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy (eds Perley, R. A., Schwab, F. R. & Bridle, A. H.) 185–196 (1989).
Zhao, J.-H., Goss, W. M., Lo, K. Y. & Ekers, R. D. Relationships between Active Galactic Nuclei and Startburst Galaxies (ed. Filippenko, A.) (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, in the press).
Cornwell, T. & Braun, R. Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy (eds Perley, R. A., Schwab, F. R. & Bridle, A. H.) 167–184 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, 1989).
Davies, R. D., Walsh, D. & Booth, R. S. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 177, 319–333 (1976).
Cotton, W. D. Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy (eds Perley, R. A., Schwab, F. R. & Bridle, A. H.) 233–246 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, 1989).
Ekers, R. D. Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy (eds Perley, R. A., Schwab, F. R. & Bridle, A. H.) 99–212 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, 1989).
Cornwell, T. J. & Evans, K. F. Astr. Astrophys. 143, 77–83 (1985).
Killeen, N. E. B. & Lo, K. Y. IAU Symp. No. 136, The Centre of the Galaxy (ed. Morris. M.) 453–455 (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1989).
Tollestrup, E. V., Carpps, R. W. & Becklin, E. E. Astr. J. 98, 204–216 (1989).
DePoy, D. L. & Sharp, N. A. Astr. J. 101, 1324–1328 (1991).
Castor, J., McCray, R. & Weaver, R. Astrophys. J. 200, L107–110 (1975).
Weaver, R., McCray, R. & Castor, J. Astrophys. J. 218, 377–395 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, JH., Goss, W., Lo, K. et al. High-resolution VLA images of the Galactic Centre at 2-cm wavelength with large dynamic range. Nature 354, 46–48 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/354046a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/354046a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
High resolution K-band images of the galactic centre
Astrophysics and Space Science (1993)
-
Origin of the hot gas and radio blobs at the Galactic Centre
Nature (1992)
-
Collimation of astrophysical jets by inertial confinement
Nature (1992)