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Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
esoastronomy ("ESO") wrote:

One for the record books 🏅

Our Very Large Telescope Interferometer has discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy. Named S301, it orbits Sagittarius A* — the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way — reaching speeds of 25 000 kilometres per second, over 8% the speed of light.

📷 ESO/GRAVITY collaboration

1/3

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science

Four observations from 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 showing star S301 moving along its orbit around Sagittarius A*. A small circle below the images shows the size of Neptune’s orbit for scale.