A star called S4716 orbits close to the Sagittarius, A black hole in the Milky Way.
Scientists discovered that the star S4716 orbits the black hole, measured about 23.5 million kilometers across. The star can orbit the black hole in four years, the shortest orbital period of any star discovered.
This means the star travels around 18 million mph (29million kph), or nearly 5,000 miles every second.
The star was discovered by researchers at the University of Cologne and Masaryk University.
After observing the star for almost as long as 20 years, scientists concluded that the star moves at a whopping speed of 8,000 kilometers per second.
“For a star to be in a stable orbit so close and fast in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole was completely unexpected and marked the limit that can be observed with traditional telescopes,” said Dr. Florian Peissker, lead author of the new study.
The scientists calculated that the star is 100 astronomical units away from the black hole S4716 is orbiting around.
One astronomical unit is about 149,597,870 kilometers, considered a small distance by astronomical standards.
The S4716 is a part of closely packed stars called the S-star cluster, the Sagittarius A cluster; the group is said to contain about 100 fas-moving stars.
Scientists discovered that the star S4716 orbits the black hole, measured about 23.5 million kilometers across. The star can orbit the black hole in four years, the shortest orbital period of any star discovered.
This means the star travels around 18 million mph (29million kph), or nearly 5,000 miles every second.
The star was discovered by researchers at the University of Cologne and Masaryk University.
After observing the star for almost as long as 20 years, scientists concluded that the star moves at a whopping speed of 8,000 kilometers per second.
“For a star to be in a stable orbit so close and fast in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole was completely unexpected and marked the limit that can be observed with traditional telescopes,” said Dr. Florian Peissker, lead author of the new study.
The scientists calculated that the star is 100 astronomical units away from the black hole S4716 is orbiting around.
One astronomical unit is about 149,597,870 kilometers, considered a small distance by astronomical standards.
The S4716 is a part of closely packed stars called the S-star cluster, the Sagittarius A cluster; the group is said to contain about 100 fas-moving stars.
