Astronomers have identified the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbiting the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at its center. The star, designated S301, was detected using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). S301 reaches speeds of up to 25,000 km/s in its orbit around the black hole, which has a mass of four million solar masses.

Most notably, S301 approaches Sagittarius A* closer than any other star observed to date. This proximity is such that the star directly experiences the effects of the black hole’s rotation, a phenomenon that provides a unique opportunity to study extreme physics in the immediate vicinity of such a massive and dense object. This discovery represents a significant advancement in understanding stellar dynamics in extreme gravitational environments.