Maeda, Y., Koyama, K., Imanishi, K., Murakami, H., Nishiuchi, M., Sakano, M., Tsujimoto, M., Yokogawa, J., Yamauchi, S.
Astronomische Nachrichten 320(4-5) 177-178 1999年
With ASCA, we obtained detailed X-ray images and spectra of the Galactic Center. X-rays in the central parsecs from the dynamical center of the Galaxy, Sgr A*, were dominated by extended emission. Since Sgr A* was not spatially resolved from the extended structure, an upper limit to its luminosity was found to be 3 × 1035 erg s-1. This result indicates that the current AGN activity of the Galactic nucleus is very low. In the central hundreds of parsecs, X-ray stars, thin thermal diffuse plasma, and iron fluorescent emission from molecular clouds were seen. Based on the analyses of the X-ray stars and both of the diffuse components, we discuss some features which are possibly related to past nuclear activities.