Observing the Galactic Center

Teck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii observing the galactic center

From Images 108

The widespread notion that the 2012 winter solstice Sun will align with the Galactic Center is incorrect. But the winter solstice Sun has been roughly aligning with the Galactic Equator, which is the equator of the Milky Way galaxy. According to master astronomer Jean Meeus the exact alignment occurred in May 1998. The Galactic Center is located at the center of the Milky Way, in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius. It was believed and recently proven, that there's a supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of our galaxy, on the order of 4 million solar masses.

One might think of the Galactic Center as the Sun of our Sun, and the probable source of most of the gravitational energy present in our galaxy. Two years after the discovery of Pluto in 1930, Karl Jansky, a Bell Telephone Laboratories engineer, found that a partial source of static affecting overseas telephone lines, came from the center of our Milky Galaxy at 26 degrees of Sagittarius. And then in the late 60's, astronomers finally honed in on the GC (Galactic Center) with radio and infrared instruments. They were amazed by the immense energies radiating from this source at many frequencies. According to "Astrophysical Directions" by Michael and Margaret Erlewine, energy emerges from the GC over 2 entire degrees of longitude near the last degrees of Sagittarius.

Because of the phenomena known as the precession of the equinoxes, caused by a subtle wobble in the earth's rotational axis, the GC and fixed stars move forward about one degree of celestial longitude every 72 years. So the Galactic Center is currently located at 27 degrees of the sign Sagittarius in the tropical zodiac.