galactic center

plural galactic centers

1. USastronomyThe central region of a galaxy.

   However, the triggering mechanism for starbursts and the mechanism of the high mass supply rate of gas into a galactic center are still unclear.

   2012, Herwig Dejonghe, Harm J. Habing, Galactic Bulges

   Synonyms: galactic bulge, galactic core, galactic nucleus, galaxy nucleus

1. Alternative letter-case form of Galactic Center.

alternative the Galactic center · alternative the galactic center · alternative the Galactic Centre · alternative the Galactic centre · alternative the galactic centre

1. USThe central region of the Milky Way.

1. Alternative letter-case form of Galactic Center.

   We appear to be moving around the Galactic center (which is host to a super massive black hole) about once every 250 million years.

   2008 April 23, John Tierney, “The Astronomy Quiz: Answers”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2008

   2 more examples

   Images like these will give astronomers all manner of insight into dust in Andromeda, which in turn can tell them the mass of the galaxy, how stars formed (and continue to form) there, and quite a lot else. That also helps us understand our own Milky Way, which, ironically, is hard to study because of all the dust blocking our view of the really interesting parts, like the Galactic center, and dense star-forming regions

   2005 October 16, Phil Plait, “Andromeda’s Warm Glow”, in Slate, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2021

   Even though SgrA* is dim right now, we have clues that it must have experienced episodes of vigorous feeding in the past. This is not a surprise, given that a gas cloud approaching the Galactic center or a star passing within ten times the horizon scale of SgrA* (which translates to roughly the Earth-Sun separation), would get spaghettified by the strong gravitational tide there and turn into a stream of gas that triggers a quasar-like flare.

   2021 January 31, Abraham Loeb, “Did a Supermassive Black Hole Influence the Evolution of Life on Earth?”, in Scientific American, New York, N.Y.: Springer Nature America, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2021