Tracking stars around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way: now and the future

The UCLA Galactic Center Group uses technology called Adaptive Optics (AO) to better track stars orbiting around the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. AO removes the twinkling of stars, making it easier for astronomers to track their positions. These animations show the improvement in the central 0.5 arcseconds of the galaxy from current generation Keck Telescope AO to Keck Next Generation Adaptive Optics (NGAO) to future Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT) AO. The Thirty Meter Telescop