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We present new Adaptive Optics (AO) imaging and spectroscopic measurements of Galactic Center source G1 from W. M. Keck Observatory. Our goal is to understand its nature and relationship to G2, which is the first example of a spatially-resolved object interacting with the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Both objects have been monitored with AO for the past decade (2003 - 2014) and are comparatively close to the black hole ($a_{rm{min}} sim$200-300 AU) on very eccentric orbits ($e_{rm{G1}}sim$0.99; $e_{rm{G2}}sim$0.96). While G2 has been tracked before and during periapse passage ($T_{0} sim$ 2014.2), G1 has been followed since soon after emerging from periapse ($T_{0} sim$ 2001.3). Our observations of G1 double the previously reported observational time baseline, which improves its orbital parameter determinations. G1s orbital trajectory appears to be in the same plane as that of G2, but with a significantly different argument of periapse ($Deltaomega$ = 21$pm$4 degrees). This suggests that G1 is an independent object and not part of a gas stream containing G2 as has been proposed. Furthermore, we show for the first time that: (1) G1 is extended in the epochs closest to periapse along the direction of orbital motion and (2) G1 becomes significantly smaller over time, (450 AU in 2004 to less than 170 AU in 2009). Based on these observations, G1 appears to be the second example of an object tidally interacting with a SMBH. G1s existence 14 years after periapse, along with its compactness in epochs further from the time of periapse, suggest that this source is stellar in nature.
Pulsars, if existing and detectable in the immediate vicinity of the massive black hole (MBH) in the Galactic center (GC), may be used as a superb tool to probe both the environment and the metric of the central MBH. The recent discovery of a magneti
In early 2014 the fast-moving near-infrared source G2 reached its closest approach to the supermassive black hole Sgr A* in the Galactic Center. We report on the evolution of the ionized gaseous component and the dusty component of G2 immediately aft
The hierarchical nature of galaxy formation suggests that a supermassive black hole binary could exist in our galactic center. We propose a new approach to constraining the possible orbital configuration of such a binary companion to the galactic cen
As it was pointed out recently in Hees et al. (2017), observations of stars near the Galactic Center with current and future facilities provide an unique tool to test general relativity (GR) and alternative theories of gravity in a strong gravitation
We present 1-resolution ALMA observations of the circumnuclear disk (CND) and the environment around SgrA*. The images unveil the presence of small spatial scale CO (J=3-2) molecular cloudlets within the central pc of the Milky Way, moving at high sp