NASA astronomers have discovered the world’s fastest star.
The star – known as S4716 – orbits close to the Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Researchers have found that the star orbits the black hole, which measures 23.5 million kilometres across, in just four years. This is the shortest orbital period of any star.
This means that the star is travelling at blisteringly fast speeds of around 29 million kilometres per hour. Or roughly 10,000km every second!
A total of five telescopes were needed to observe the star, with four of these five being combined into one large telescope to allow even more accurate and detailed observations.
What is a black hole?
A black hole is a dying star that has collapsed inward under the pressure of its own weight.
