Structure of the nuclear stellar cluster of the Milky Way galaxy

0442418 - ASÚ 2015 RIV GB eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Kunneriath, Devaky - Schödel, R. - Stolovy, S. - Feldmeier, A.
Structure of the nuclear stellar cluster of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Galactic center: Feeding and Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014 - (Sjouwerman, L.), s. 228-229. IAU Symposium Proceedings Series, IAU S303. ISBN 9781107044616. ISSN 1743-9213.
[Symposium of the International Astronomical Union /303./. Santa Fe (US), 30.09.2013-04.10.2013]
Institutional support: RVO:67985815
Keywords : nuclear stellar cluster * Spitzer MIR images
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)

Nuclear star clusters are unambiguously detected in about 50-70% of spiral and spheroidal galaxies. They have typical half-light radii of 2-5 pc, dynamical mass ranging from 106 - 107 M-circle, are brighter than globular clusters, and obey similar scaling relations with host galaxies as supermassive black holes. The nuclear stellar cluster (NSC) which surrounds Sgr A*, the SMBH at the center of our galaxy, is the nearest nuclear cluster to us, and can be resolved to scales of milliparsecs. The strong and highly variable extinction towards the Galactic center makes it very hard to infer the intrinsic properties of the NSC (structure and size). We attempt a new way to infer its properties by using Spitzer MIR images in a wavelength range 3-8 μm where the extinction is at a minimum, and the NSC clearly stands out as a separate structure. We present results from our analysis, including extinction-corrected images and surface brightness profiles of the central few hundred parsecs of the Milky Way.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0245236