A new infrared astrometric reference frame for the Galactic center, built from 14 epochs of Hubble data tied to Gaia, reaches 0.03 mas/yr precision and is consistent with radio maser frames.
A Milliarcsecond-accurate Position for Sagittarius A*
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abstract
The absolute position of Sgr A*, the compact radio source at the center of the Milky Way, had been uncertain by several tens of milliarcseconds. Here we report improved astrometric measurements of the absolute position and proper motion of Sgr A*. Three epochs of phase-referencing observations were conducted with the Very Long Baseline Array for Sgr A* at 22 and 43 GHz in 2019 and 2020. Using extragalactic radio sources with submilliarcsecond-accurate positions as reference, we determined the absolute position of Sgr A* at a reference epoch 2020.0 to be at $\alpha$(J2000) = $17^{\rm h} 45^{\rm m}40.^{\rm s}032863~\pm~0.^{\rm s}000016$ and $\delta$(J2000) = $-29^{\circ} 00^{\prime} 28.^{''}24260~\pm~0.^{''}00047$, with an updated proper motion $-3.152~\pm~0.011$ and $-5.586~\pm~0.006$ mas yr$^{-1}$ in the easterly and northerly directions, respectively.
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The HST-Gaia Near-Infrared Astrometric Reference Frame near the Milky Way Galactic Center
A new infrared astrometric reference frame for the Galactic center, built from 14 epochs of Hubble data tied to Gaia, reaches 0.03 mas/yr precision and is consistent with radio maser frames.