Max Planck team finds S301, Milky Way's fastest star
Astronomers have just found S301, the fastest star ever spotted in our galaxy. It races around the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at a wild 25,000km per second, about 100,000 times faster than a plane.
The discovery comes from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and was published this year.
S301 closest star to Sagittarius A
S301 isn't just fast, it's also the closest star we know of to Sagittarius A*, orbiting as close as Saturn is to our Sun and finishing one lap every 8.7 years.
Even though it's right next to a black hole, scientists say its orbit is stable and safe.
What's really cool? S301's unique path gives astronomers a rare chance to study how spinning black holes twist spacetime, with more discoveries expected when it swings by again in 2031.