Science and Technology News

Fastest Star in Milky Way - S301

August 24 , 2026 12 hrs 0 min 12 0

Scientists have identified S301 as the fastest-moving star on a confirmed orbit in the Milky Way.
S301 reaches a maximum speed of about 25,000 km/s, nearly 8% of the speed of light.
It follows a highly elliptical 8.7-year orbit around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
At its closest approach, S301 comes within about 12 astronomical units (AU) of Sagittarius A*.
The discovery used observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile.