Fastest star found orbiting Sagittarius A* with unprecedented proximity
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer detected S301, the fastest known star in the Milky Way, orbiting the central supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. The star reaches speeds of 25,000 km/s and comes closer to the black hole than any previously observed star, approaching within approximately 1.78 billion km (about 12 times the Sun-Earth distance). A study published in Nature indicates that S301's close orbit makes it the first star that could be used to directly measure the rotation of Sagittarius A*, with researchers hoping to constrain the black hole's spin within the next decade as the star completes its 8.7-year orbit.