Keck Observatory in Hawaii using a spectrograph built at UCLA by a team led by colleague James Larkin - provide the third dimension, revealing the star’s motion at a level of precision not previously attained. These data were combined with measurements Ghez and her team have made over the last 24 years. Spectra also show the composition of the star. Spectra, which Ghez described as the “rainbow of light” from stars, show the intensity of light and offer important information about the star from which the light travels.

The key data in the research were spectra that Ghez’s team analyzed last April, May and September as her “favorite star” made its closest approach to the enormous black hole. The researchers say their work is the most detailed study ever conducted into the supermassive black hole and Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

The full orbit takes 16 years, and the black hole’s mass is about 4 million times that of the sun. The laws of physics, including gravity, should be valid everywhere in the universe, said Ghez, who added that her research team is one of only two groups in the world to watch a star known as S0-2 make a complete orbit in three dimensions around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Einstein’s theory is the best description of how gravity works, said Ghez, whose UCLA-led team of astronomers has made direct measurements of the phenomenon near a supermassive black hole - research Ghez describes as “extreme astrophysics.” The scientist proposed that objects such as the sun and the Earth change this geometry. It cannot fully explain gravity inside a black hole, and at some point we will need to move beyond Einstein’s theory to a more comprehensive theory of gravity that explains what a black hole is.”Įinstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity holds that what we perceive as the force of gravity arises from the curvature of space and time. However, his theory is definitely showing vulnerability. Our observations are consistent with Einstein’s general theory of relativity. “We can absolutely rule out Newton’s law of gravity. “Einstein’s right, at least for now,” said Ghez, a co-lead author of the research. Now, in the most comprehensive test of general relativity near the monstrous black hole at the center of our galaxy, Ghez and her research team report July 25 in the journal Science that Einstein’s theory holds up.

More than 100 years after Albert Einstein published his iconic general theory of relativity, it is beginning to fray at the edges, said Andrea Ghez, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

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