Felix Mang

“S301 takes 8.7 years to orbit the black hole”

“At its closest approach, it passes within about 12 astronomical units from the black hole”

“skims past the black hole at roughly 55 million mph (90 million km/h) — about 8% the speed of light”

“the ellipse swings around by about 2 degrees every lap”

“It appears to be an ordinary main‑sequence star of about 1.5 solar masses”

“and around 10 times closer than S2 ever gets”

“Statistically, S301 should not be alone; roughly 100 similar stars may lurk on comparable orbits”

“S301 takes 8.7 years to orbit the black hole, beating the previous record holder — a star on a 12-year orbit”