Who coined the name Sgr A* in 1982?

Robert L. Brown coined the name Sgr A* in 1982.

Brown introduced the asterisk in a 1982 paper about gas dynamics and precessing jets near Sagittarius A. The compact radio source was called Sagittarius A*, with the star-like symbol reflecting the idea that it was an unusually “exciting” radio source. In atomic notation, an asterisk can denote an excited state, making the name a deliberate piece of scientific wordplay.

Sagittarius A itself is a much larger radio-emitting complex at the center of the Milky Way. Sagittarius A* identifies its compact central component, now understood to be the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. Brown and Bruce Balick had reported the source’s discovery in 1974, but discovery and naming were separate milestones.

Andrea Ghez later became central to stellar-orbit studies that measured the central object’s mass, while Karl Jansky pioneered early radio astronomy. Bruce Balick was Brown’s collaborator in the discovery, but the 1982 naming credit belongs to Brown.