Astronomers have identified a star moving at exceptionally high speed around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
The star, designated S4716, completes a full orbit in approximately four years, making it the shortest-period star known to circle the black hole.
At its closest approach, the star reaches speeds of roughly 8,000 kilometers per second, or about 2.6% of the speed of light.
Researchers tracked the star using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.
The discovery was made by a team led by Florian Peissker at the University of Cologne, with findings published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Because S4716 passes so close to the event horizon, its motion provides a stringent test of general relativity in an extreme gravitational field.
The star's orbit also helps constrain the mass and spin of Sagittarius A* with greater precision than previously possible.
Astronomers plan to continue monitoring S4716 to detect any subtle deviations from predicted paths that could reveal new physics.
This high-speed star is whipping around the black hole in the middle of our galaxy
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