[stephengillie]

> Astronomers call it Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”).

Why do astronomers call the black hole "A Star" when they know better than anyone else that it's not a star, but a black hole?

Why don't we call it "Sagittarius A-black hole"?

[scentoni]

The asterisk has nothing to do with indicating it is a star.

> The name Sgr A* was coined by Brown in a 1982 paper because the radio source was "exciting", and excited states of atoms are denoted with asterisks.

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