First Observed Interaction of the Circumstellar Envelope of an S-star with the Environment of Sgr A*

Abstract

Abstract Several publications highlight the importance of the observations of bow shocks to learn more about the surrounding interstellar medium and radiation field. We revisit the most prominent dusty and gaseous bow shock source, X7, close to the supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, using multiwavelength analysis. For the purpose of this study, we use Spectrograph for Integral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (SINFONI) (H+K-band) and NACO L′- and M′-band) data sets between 2002 and 2018 with additional COMIC/ADONIS+RASOIR (L′-band) 7 7 COME-ON-PLUS Infrared Camera/Adaptive Optics Near Infrared System + Renouveau de l’Analyseur de Surface d’Onde InfraRouge data of 1999. By analyzing the line maps of SINFONI, we identify a velocity of ∼200 km s−1 from the tip to the tail. Furthermore, a combination of the multiwavelength data of NACO and SINFONI in the H-, K-, L′-, and M′-bands results in a two-component blackbody fit that implies that X7 is a dust-enshrouded stellar object. The observed ongoing elongation and orientation of X7 in the Brγ line maps and the NACO L′-band continuum indicate a wind arising at the position of Sgr A* or at the IRS16 complex. Observations after 2010 show that the dust and the gas shell seems to be decoupled in the projection from its stellar source S50. The data also implies that the tail of X7 thermally heats up due to the presence of S50. The gas emission at the tip is excited because of the related forward scattering (Mie scattering), which will continue to influence the shape of X7 in the near future. In addition, we find excited [Fe iii] lines, which together with the recently analyzed dusty sources and the Brγ-bar underline the uniqueness of this source.