Students analyze time-series images of stars orbiting the Galactic center to reconstruct their trajectories and identify orbital shapes. They extract quantitative data (positions, distances, periods) and model the orbit of a reference star as an ellipse. Using these measurements, they apply Kepler’s third law to estimate the mass of the central black hole and compare their results with scientific values.
Resource Link
Activity Information
Big Ideas
Astronomy is a science that studies celestial objects and phenomena in the Universe
Cosmology is the science of exploring the Universe as a whole
Source: Document (PDF/Word)