Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sagittarius a*

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.87 in modern English

Syllables: sagit-tar-ius a*
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The central supermassive black hole of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Example Sentences

"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."

Etymology

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.

Phrases

Messier 87*

Frequently Paired Words

Messier 87*

Synonyms

Sgr A*

Questions

What does sagittarius a* mean?: The central supermassive black hole of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Where does sagittarius a* come from?: 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.

How to pronounce sagittarius a*

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