Bremen 2017 – scientific programme

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SYCC: Symposium Cosmic Censorship

SYCC 1: Symposium Cosmic Censorship

SYCC 1.3: Invited Talk

Monday, March 13, 2017, 17:30–18:00, HS 1010

Approaching the Event Horizon of the Galactic Center Black Hole — •Frank Eisenhauer — Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstr., 85741 Garching, Germany

The observations of stellar orbits and the extreme compactness of the central radio source provide compelling evidence that the Galactic Center harbors a supermassive black hole. Given its relative proximity, the Galactic Center is the ideal laboratory for studying the details of such an extreme object. Infrared and submillimeter interferometry are currently taking the next steps in the Galactic Center research by providing event-horizon scale astrometry and imaging resolution: Radio observatories will combine their telescopes accros the world with the goal of imaging the shadow of the black hole against the surrounding accretion flow, and the infrared interferometer GRAVITY - a new instrument combining the four 8m ESO Very Large Telescopes in Chile - will focus on measuring the motion of matter close to the last stable orbit and on detecting general relativistic effects in the stellar orbits at larger distance. The presentation will cover both the experimental and astrophysical aspects of these project and give an outlook on the exciting results to emerge in the upcoming years.