Sun recorded moving this fast for the first time: Not even our galaxy's giant black hole can swallow it

Astronomers have identified a star moving at an astonishing speed around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This star has shattered the previous record for the fastest-known star in our galactic neighborhood. It reaches speeds of about 25,000 kilometers per second, which is nearly 100,000 times faster than a passenger jet. Despite its extreme velocity, the star is not heading for destruction.

Instead, the immense gravity of the black hole acts like a cosmic slingshot, enabling the star to achieve such high speeds without falling into its gravitational field. The discovery was made by a research team led by astronomer Stefan Gillessen of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, utilizing data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. The study's findings were published in the journal Nature.

The star completes a full orbit around the black hole in just 8.7 years. This represents the closest known orbit of a star around this object to date, approximately ten times closer than the previous record holder. This observation is particularly valuable scientifically because the star's proximity to the black hole means it is influenced by the black hole's rotation.

Studying such stars offers scientists a novel way to more precisely measure how fast the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center is spinning. Researchers anticipate that as telescopes become more sensitive, they will be able to detect even fainter stars, paving the way for new, even more extreme discoveries.