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General Astronomy >> General Observing and Astronomy

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Sagittarius A location
#5635067 - 01/21/13 02:18 PM

Where is Sagittarius A in relation to the constellation? I've looked all over and can't find this. Thanks

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sirchz
super member

Reged: 09/21/09

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5635089 - 01/21/13 02:28 PM

Sagittarius A* has a well defined location and according to Wikipedia is in the Sagittarius A complex.

Quote:

Sagittarius A* (pronounced "Sagittarius A-star", standard abbreviation Sgr A*) is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. It is part of a larger astronomical feature known as Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A* is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole,[4] such as those that are now generally accepted to be at the centers of most spiral and elliptical galaxies.

Right ascension: 17h 45m 40.045s
Declination: -29° 0' 27.9"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: sirchz]
#5635135 - 01/21/13 02:51 PM

Quote:

Sagittarius A* has a well defined location and according to Wikipedia is in the Sagittarius A complex.

Quote:

Sagittarius A* ...near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*

Thanks, but I looked at that already. "Near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius" is vague. I want to put a dot on my sky map.

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CJK
professor emeritus

Reged: 12/05/12

Loc: Scenic SE TN

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5635142 - 01/21/13 02:55 PM

The RA and Dec values are right there -- can't get more specific than that.

-- Chris

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: CJK]
#5635232 - 01/21/13 03:41 PM

OK, I get it. Thanks

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JayinUT
I'm not Sleepy

Reged: 09/19/08

Loc: Utah

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5635357 - 01/21/13 05:02 PM

Are you trying to see Sag A or are you just wanting to say you've looked in the general area? Just curious.

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David Knisely
Postmaster

Reged: 04/19/04

Loc: southeastern Nebraska

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5636107 - 01/22/13 01:41 AM

Quote:

Where is Sagittarius A in relation to the constellation? I've looked all over and can't find this. Thanks

It is rarely plotted on many star atlases since the object itself is not visible in visible light. Uranometria 2000.0 2nd edition does plot it on page 146 of Volume 2. The nearest naked-eye star to the location of Sagittarius A is mag. 4.6 star 3 (X) Sagittarii, which is about a degree north-northeast from that radio source. The 8th magnitude star cluster and nebula Collinder 347/Sh2-16 are about half a degree to the south of Sagittarius A, but other than that, you probably won't see much in the area of that location other than lots of faint foreground stars. Clear skies to you.

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: David Knisely]
#5640274 - 01/24/13 09:44 AM

Thank you to the last two posters. I'm new to astronomy at age 64 and yes I just wanted to look in that direction. I was puzzled that it didn't appear in star atlases, but see now that it's because it isn't a visible thing. I knew that, but thought it would be nice to indicate (maybe with a footnote!).

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csa/montana
Den Mama

Reged: 05/14/05

Loc: montana

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5640361 - 01/24/13 10:31 AM

Welcome to Cloudy Nights! Glad our members were able to answer your question; great group here!

Isn't astronomy wonderful getting into it, at a later age? We wonder why we didn't do it long before!

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: csa/montana]
#5640389 - 01/24/13 10:43 AM

Yep. Thanks for the welcome.

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Tony Flanders
Postmaster

Reged: 05/18/06

Loc: Cambridge, MA, USA

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: David Knisely]
#5640390 - 01/24/13 10:43 AM

Quote:

It is rarely plotted on many star atlases since the object itself is not visible in visible light.

Hmm, it's plotted in The Pocket Sky Atlas, Sky Atlas 2000.0, and Uranometria. Measured in terms of use at the telescope, I bet that accounts for at least 80% of all star atlases.

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David Knisely
Postmaster

Reged: 04/19/04

Loc: southeastern Nebraska

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: Tony Flanders]
#5640614 - 01/24/13 12:50 PM

Quote:

Quote:

It is rarely plotted on many star atlases since the object itself is not visible in visible light.

Hmm, it's plotted in The Pocket Sky Atlas, Sky Atlas 2000.0, and Uranometria. Measured in terms of use at the telescope, I bet that accounts for at least 80% of all star atlases.

Yea, but I pulled out the 1st edition of Sky Atlas 2000 and it wasn't on that one (never bothered to pull on my 2nd edition, as it is in my "portable library" I use in the field). It isn't plotted in my 20th edition of Norton's Star Atlas either. As I did mention, it is plotted in both editions of Uranometria. In fact, Sag A *and* the location of the galactic center are plotted in that atlas. However, in the Pocket Sky Atlas, "the Galactic Center" is plotted, but not the radio source Sag A, even though they are almost on top of each other. Megastar also does not plot Sag A. In any case, it is a moot point, since you can't "see" Sag A (at least without a radio telescope of decent size). Clear skies to you.

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jrbarnett
Eyepiece Hooligan

Reged: 02/28/06

Loc: Petaluma, CA

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5644109 - 01/26/13 10:24 AM

Not much to see, though, visually. There's lots of junk between us and the radio source.

Centaurus A, on the other hand is a beautiful, visible radio galaxy a bit further south. You might be able to snag it from SC.

Regards,

Jim

Edited by jrbarnett (01/26/13 10:30 AM)

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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster

Reged: 04/08/02

Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: jrbarnett]
#5644417 - 01/26/13 01:33 PM

The position of the center of the Milky Way is shown at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap971111.html

There's information on the galactic center and the radio source known as Sagittarius A posted at http://cass.ucsd.edu/archive/public/tutorial/MW.html and http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990128.html

X-ray images showing the location of Milky Way's supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sagittarius A-star) can be seen at http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/04/the-downtown-mi.html and http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/gcle/

There's more on Sgr A* at https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~reid/sgra.html and https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l8_p7.html

Dave Mitsky

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folchal
member

Reged: 01/19/13

Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: Dave Mitsky]
#5644670 - 01/26/13 04:19 PM

Thanks everyone--very rich!

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algomeysa
newbie

Reged: 04/24/13

Re: Sagittarius A location new

[Re: folchal]
#5819616 - 04/24/13 11:57 AM

To be a little more precise, if you want to be able to jab your finger at that sky and say, "Lo! There is the center of the galaxy!"
The Galactic Center is between HR 6680 / HD 163318 (HIP87836) and 3 Sagittari, closer to 3 Sagittari, down a bit.
Imagine the teapot of Sagittarius just shot out some tea, and it's starting to arc downward.
See image:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b344/planettom/lj3013/SagittariusA_zps45249...

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