Star Orbiting Milky Way's Black Hole Tests General Relativity at Extreme Speeds

A Sun-like star has been found orbiting the Milky Way's supermassive black hole at an extraordinarily close distance — comparable to Neptune's distance from the Sun — reaching speeds exceeding 8% of the speed of light. These extreme conditions give astronomers a rare opportunity to test the limits of Einstein's general theory of relativity. The star's motion provides one of the most rigorous real-world checks of the theory yet available.

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