Proof of the black hole is a tremendous amount of mass inside a very small volume. There's 4 million times the mass of our sun within a region that's comparable to the size of our solar system. Andrea M. Ghez amountblackcomparable Change image and share on social
The key to proving that there's a black hole is showing that there's a tremendous amount of mass in a very small volume. And you can do that with the motions of stars. Andrea M. Ghez amountblackhole Change image and share on social
Our galaxy's pretty ordinary, garden-variety. So if we believe our galaxy has a super massive black hole, that tells us that most, if not all, galaxies host such a black hole at their centers. Andrea M. Ghez blackcentergalaxy Change image and share on social
The Keck telescope, which is the largest in the world, had opened just before I began my faculty position at UCLA. Andrea M. Ghez beginfacultykeck Change image and share on social
An ordinary black hole is thought to be the end state of a really massive star's life. Andrea M. Ghez blackendhole Change image and share on social
One of the big mysteries about the black hole at the center of the galaxy is, 'Why don't we see emission from matter falling onto the black hole, or, rather, the black hole eating up its surroundings?' Andrea M. Ghez bigblackcenter share on social
The question that I started off with was, I thought, very simple. It was just 'Is there a massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way?' But one of the things I love about science is that you always end up with new questions. Andrea M. Ghez blackcenterend share on social
The atmosphere is great for people - it allows us to survive - but it's a real headache for astronomers. Andrea M. Ghez astronomeratmospheregreat Change image and share on social
Astronomers are obsessed with building larger and larger telescopes. There are two promises that we make with bigger telescopes: that they can see fainter things and that they see more detail. But it's been really hard to follow through on that second promise because of atmospheric distortion. Andrea M. Ghez astronomeratmosphericbig share on social
Black holes are very exotic objects. Technically, a black hole puts a huge amount of mass inside of zero volume. So our understanding of the center of black holes doesn't make sense, which is a big clue to physicists that we don't have our physics quite right. Andrea M. Ghez amountbigblack share on social