Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by stargazer-3 2079 days ago
Back in the day they each led research to detect irrefutable evidence of it. This isn't anything new and groundbreaking.
1 comments

I think that's rather unfair. The measurements are still ongoing with ever-increasing accuracy. In 2018 they managed to record the closest approach of the star S2, measuring a velocity of 7000 km/s at its maximum. This was after mapping the full 16 year orbit. I know that Genzel is still actively researching this topic with his group, see e.g. https://www.mpe.mpg.de/7433286/news20200416
Ghez is very active. Both her group and Genzel's group are at the very leading edge.

I haven't found an updated GIF, but even when I first saw images like this around 2002, it was clear she was chasing something awesome.

https://www.physicscentral.com/explore/people/images/2008orb...

That is true, but the prize was awarded to Genzel for “for the __discovery__ of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy” (emphasis mine), not for the (impressive no doubt) follow-up work, so my comment was done in that context. That being said, I should have been a bit more enthusiastic about the infrared group's work to not appear dismissive on their ongoing contribution.

Fun fact: looks like we're both in MPE (although I left two years ago).