Re: Visibility of milkyway center.

In article <8KPfhoivoUpCFw9H@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Jonathan Silverlight <jsilverlight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> The individual stars
[in the Galactic center]
> certainly are [too far away to see]

With naked eye, yes, although not be much. The bright red supergiant
IRS 7 has a dereddened 2.2 micron magnitude of 4.0. If it is
spectral class M0 (which is about right but I'm too lazy to look up
the exact class right now), it would be about mag 8.0 in the visible
if there were no reddening. (With reddening, it's around mag 35.)

IRS 16 might be brighter, though I don't think anyone knows for sure
what its intrinsic spectrum is. It has a dereddened 2.2 micron
magnitude of 5.6 and is fairly blue.

(reference: Becklin et al. 1978, ApJ 219, 121.)

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Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 swillner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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