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Investigating the submillimetre variability of Sagittarius A* with SCUBA
Author(s) -
PiercePrice Douglas,
Jenness Tim,
Richer John,
Greaves Jane
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.200385082
Subject(s) - james clerk maxwell telescope , physics , sagittarius , astrophysics , sagittarius a* , flux (metallurgy) , bolometer , telescope , astronomy , galactic center , galaxy , milky way , star formation , optics , metallurgy , materials science , detector
We present an analysis of variability in submillimetre continuum observations of Sagittarius A*. The initial observations were made with the Submillimetre Common‐User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) during a wide‐field 2.8° × 0.5° survey of the Galactic Centre “Central Molecular Zone” at 850 μ m and 450 μ m. Our average flux densities for Sagittarius A* were lower than some previous results, such as those of Serabyn et al. (1997). This may be evidence of variability in the submillimetre excess. To investigate this further, we have used additional data from the SCUBA/JCMT archive to calculate flux densities for other dates. We detected a ∼50% increase in the 850 μ m flux density of Sagittarius A* between April 1998 and August 1999.