Astronomers Found the Fastest Star in the Milky Way — It’s Moving 15,500 Miles Per Second
Astronomers have identified what appears to be the fastest star ever recorded in the Milky Way, a stellar object hurtling around the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at approximately 15,500 miles per second, according to this week’s astronomy coverage. To put that in perspective, that’s fast enough to cross the continental United States in under a second.
How do you even find a star moving that fast?
Astronomers track stars near the galactic center by observing their position over time and calculating how far they travel, using ground- and space-based observatories cataloged by organizations like NASA. Stars this close to a supermassive black hole are caught in an intense gravitational tug-of-war, which can accelerate them to extraordinary speeds as they whip around the black hole in tight, elongated orbits.
Why this star is significant
Extremely fast-moving stars, sometimes called hypervelocity stars, offer scientists a rare window into the physics happening at the center of our galaxy, a region normally hidden behind thick clouds of dust and gas. Studying how a star reaches and survives such extreme speeds helps astronomers refine their understanding of the black hole’s mass, the shape of its gravitational field, and what kinds of objects can exist in its immediate vicinity.
What happens to a star moving this fast?
Stars moving at these velocities are often flung onto highly elliptical orbits or, in some cases, ejected from the galaxy entirely after a close gravitational encounter. Whether this particular star remains bound to the galactic center or is eventually flung into deep space is exactly the kind of question follow-up observations will try to answer.
Why readers should care
Stories like this are a reminder of just how extreme conditions get at the center of our own galaxy, no telescope required to be fascinated by the numbers alone.
