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Astronomers Detect The Fastest Star Ever Seen, Traveling at 15,500 Miles Per SECOND
ScienceAlert • • science
Key Points:
- Astronomers have discovered a star named S301 orbiting the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at speeds reaching 8.5% of the speed of light, much faster and closer than previously studied stars like S2.
- S301’s highly elongated 8.7-year orbit brings it close enough to experience frame-dragging effects caused by the black hole’s spin, allowing scientists to potentially measure Sagittarius A*’s spin and test the no-hair theorem of black holes.
- The no-hair theorem predicts that a black hole’s gravitational field is fully described by its mass and spin; precise tracking of S301’s orbit could confirm this by measuring the black hole’s quadrupole moment.
- S301’s orbit suggests it may have originated from a binary star system disrupted by the black hole, with one star captured and the other possibly ejected at high speed, a scenario known as the Hills mechanism.
- Continued observations with instruments like GRAVITY+ and the upcoming MICADO on the Extremely Large Telescope aim to refine measurements of Sgr A*’s spin within the next decade, with hopes of discovering more stars like S301 to improve these tests.
