A Star in a Sprint: Chasing the Fastest Star in the Galaxy
Picture a sprinter rounding a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff at full tilt. Each lap, the path shifts slightly because the wind from the lighthouse nudges them sideways. At the center of our galaxy, star S301 is tearing around a supermassive black hole at 25,600 kilometers per second, which is 14 times faster than the fastest spacecraft humans have ever built.