The fastest star discovered is called S4716. It orbits a black hole in the center of the universe called Sagittarius A. The black hole measures 23.5 million kilometers across, and the star makes a full orbit in just 4 years, the shortest orbital period of any star.
Black holes are massive holes that swallow any object that gets close to them. S4716 was discovered by researchers at the University of Cologne and Masaryk University. It’s traveling approximately 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers every second, according to the information.
S4716 comes as close as 100 astronomical units (AU) to the black hole. One AU is approximately 149,597,870 kilometers. The distance of an AU is considered a small one in space. S4716 is part of a group called the S-star cluster or Sagittarius A. The group has about 100 fast-moving stars.
Five telescopes were needed to see S4716—two from Hawaii and three from the European Southern Observatory. NIR2 and OSIRIS are from Hawaii, and SINFONI, NACO, and GRAVITY are from the European Southern Observatory. Four of those telescopes were combined to see S4716 more accurately.
Scientists observed S4716 for almost 20 years! The lead author of the new study, Dr. Florian Peissker, said, “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 marks the limit that can be observed with traditional telescopes.”
Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1657494743416x698916585050773800/Astronomers%20discover%20%27fastest%27%20star%20in%20known%20universe%20-%20CBBC%20Newsround.pdf
Black holes are massive holes that swallow any object that gets close to them. S4716 was discovered by researchers at the University of Cologne and Masaryk University. It’s traveling approximately 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers every second, according to the information.
S4716 comes as close as 100 astronomical units (AU) to the black hole. One AU is approximately 149,597,870 kilometers. The distance of an AU is considered a small one in space. S4716 is part of a group called the S-star cluster or Sagittarius A. The group has about 100 fast-moving stars.
Five telescopes were needed to see S4716—two from Hawaii and three from the European Southern Observatory. NIR2 and OSIRIS are from Hawaii, and SINFONI, NACO, and GRAVITY are from the European Southern Observatory. Four of those telescopes were combined to see S4716 more accurately.
Scientists observed S4716 for almost 20 years! The lead author of the new study, Dr. Florian Peissker, said, “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 marks the limit that can be observed with traditional telescopes.”
Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1657494743416x698916585050773800/Astronomers%20discover%20%27fastest%27%20star%20in%20known%20universe%20-%20CBBC%20Newsround.pdf
