periapse passage Periapse: The point of a body's elliptical orbit about the system's centre of mass where the distance between the body and the centre of mass is at its minimum.
shows tidal interactions as it nears the BH • Observation : test whether G2 is a gas cloud • Keck II LGSAO • NIRC2 : K’[2.1μm] & L’[3.8μm] broadband filters Object & Facility should be tidally disrupted during periapse passage
black hole as a compact, unresolved source at L’ • G2’s L’ brightness measurements are consistent with those over the last decade • G2’s motion continues to be consistent with a Keplerian model.
∼30 L⊙, and is surrounded by a large optically thick dust shell(~2.6AU). • L’ and Br-γ emission arises primarily from internal and external heating, respectively. • G2 is a binary star merger product and will ultimately appear similar to the B-stars.
? Detection: an object(G2) approaching the SMBH Br-γ emission: dusty, 3 earth mass gas cloud If true, it will be disrupted and accreted Interest: can be followed through the predicted accretion
? • Alternative models: central stellar source • NIR: detectable at L’-M[3-5μm], faint at K’[2μm] • In Br-γ: slightly elongated core, tital tails • New L’ imaging observations of G2 during the closest approach and the following few months
ionizing photons Tidal interaction with the BH Only SOME gas associated with G2 has a size that exceeds its tidal radius Specially unresolved Continues to follow a well- defined Keplerian orbit Constant in brightness Come from a dust shell surrounding an underlying star
has been invariant at ∼ 2.1 mJy •In 2004, G2 had an L’ - M’ color of ∼ 0.3, which corresponds to a blackbody temperature of ∼ 560 K. • •No K’ detection has been made in any epoch. •The L’ emission is much more compact than the emission in Br-γ, and thus originates in a different region.