Page "Galactic Center" Paragraph 13

In addition to the " paradox of youth ", there is also a " conundrum of old age " associated with the distribution of the old stars at the Galactic Center.

Theoretical models had predicted that the old stars — which far outnumber young stars — should have a steeply-rising density near the black hole, a so-called Bahcall – Wolf cusp.

Instead, it was discovered in 2009 that the density of the old stars peaks at a distance of roughly 1 / 2 parsec from Sgr A *, then falls inward: instead of a dense cluster, there is a " hole ", or core, around the black hole.

For instance, while the black hole would eat stars near to it, creating a region of low density, this region would be much smaller than a parsec.