Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest stars

By: Skyler Tan

Astronomers have discovered the one of the fastest stars. This star orbits the black hole (which is in the center of our galaxy), and this speedy star can go nearly 5,000 miles per second! It is called S4716

S4716 was discovered by a total of 5 telescopes, and four of the five were combined into one BIG telescope. These telescopes included the NIR2, the OSIRIS in Hawaii, and the European Southern Observatory’s SINFONI, NACO, and GRAVITY telescopes.

After observing the star for about 20 years, the researchers finally discovered that the star travels 8,000 kilometers per second.

The S4716 is a part of a tight pack of stars named the S-star cluster, or the Sagittarius A*. This cluster of stars contains around 100 fast-moving stars.

Dr. Florian Peissker, lead author of the study, explains: “For a star to be in a stable orbit so close and fast in the vicinity of a super massive black hole was completely unexpected and marks the limit that can be observed with traditional telescopes.”

This information astronomers found has told us that we can discover more and more amazing things about our huge and unknown universe.