Fastest-known star zooms under Milky Way black hole's influence

Scientists have identified the fastest-known star, S301, which orbits the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy - Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. This stellar speedster travels at speeds up to 56 million miles per hour, more than 8% the speed of light. No other star has been clocked at this speed before. S301 completes an elliptical orbit around Sgr A* every 8.7 years, with its nearest approach to the black hole being roughly 11.5 times the Earth-Sun distance.

The black hole itself is 4 million times more massive than our sun and located about 26,000 light-years away from Earth. Despite the black hole's immense gravitational pull, S301 is safe from being devoured, as its orbit is stable for now. Astrophysicists believe S301 was once part of a binary system before one star was ejected from the galaxy and the other was captured in a close orbit around Sgr A*.

By studying the star's motion, researchers hope to measure Sgr A*'s spin, a feat that has never been achieved before.