Meanings
- The central supermassive black hole of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Sagittarius A*, the black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, was a harder target. It is less than one-thousandth the mass and size of the M87 hole and, therefore, evolves a thousand times faster.
2022 May 12, Dennis Overbye, “The Milky Way’s Black Hole Comes to Light”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: Sgr A*
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe central supermassive black hole of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Origin
From being the unseen gravitational centre associated with the astronomical radio source Sagittarius A, the astrophysical radio source associated with the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The asterisk * originally symbolized an exciting discovery, by analogy with the symbol's use to denote the excited state of atoms.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Sagittarius A*. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sagittarius%20A%2A
“Sagittarius A*.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sagittarius%20A%2A. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sagittarius A*,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sagittarius%20A%2A.
Source: Sagittarius A* on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.