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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2016
Although the notion that the Milky Way galaxy contains a supermassive central black hole has been around for more than two decades, it has been difficult to prove that one exists. The challenge is to assess the distribution of matter in the few central parsecs of the Galaxy. Assuming that gravity is the dominant force, the motion of the stars and gas in the vicinity of the putative black hole offers a robust method for accomplishing this task, by revealing the mass interior to the radius of the objects studied. Thus objects located closest to the Galactic Center provide the strongest constraints on the black hole hypothesis.