{
  "id": 2026199,
  "title": "Scientists just found the fastest known star in the Milky Way. It zooms around our black hole at 15,500 miles per second",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/scientists-just-found-the-fastest-known-star-in-the-milky-way-it",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-19T21:58:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Space.com",
    "slug": "space-com",
    "url": "https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/scientists-just-found-the-fastest-known-star-in-the-milky-way-it-zooms-around-our-black-hole-at-15-500-miles-per-second"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Astronomers have discovered the fastest known star in the Milky Way, named S301. This faint object is orbiting Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, at a remarkable speed of 15,500 miles per second — more than 8% the speed of light. S301's orbit is incredibly tight, taking just 8.7 years to complete, and it approaches the black hole at a distance of only 12 times the Earth's distance from the sun. This unprecedented discovery provides astronomers with a novel method to study the 4.3-million-solar-mass black hole. General relativity predicts that a rotating black hole induces frame dragging, causing alterations in the orbit of nearby stars. With S301 venturing so close to Sagittarius A*, these changes may be measurable within a decade. This discovery marks the first direct measurement of a massive black hole's spin, providing a crucial test of Einstein's theory. The team, led by Felix Mang and Stefan Gillessen, will continue tracking S301 with GRAVITY+ and eventually ESO's Extremely Large Telescope. The upcoming observations, spanning two full orbits, could reveal Sagittarius A*'s spin for the first time.",
  "summary": "Astronomers have found the fastest known star in the Milky Way, a faint object racing around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}