The fastest orbit in space is around a black hole
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Question by @Zach_Zach_Zach — thank you!
The fastest known orbits are around black holes. The star S4714 swings past Sagittarius A*, the giant black hole at the center of our Milky Way, at about 24,000 kilometers per second, roughly 8 percent of the speed of light. A clump of hot gas, called a hot spot, orbits even closer to the same black hole at about 30 percent of the speed of light, finishing one lap in around 70 minutes on an orbit about the size of Mercury's.
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Transcript
- Sef Zach Zach Zach asks: What is the fastest thing to orbit something in the universe?
- Sef Easy! The space station, obviously!
- Tiggy Nope. The champions circle black holes.
- Tiggy A star near our galaxy's black hole hits about 8 percent of light speed.
- Tiggy But hot gas there hits 30 percent!
- Tiggy One lap takes just 70 minutes.
- Sef That is how long I spend chasing my tail!
Sources
- ESO: Hot gas bubble orbiting the Milky Way's black hole eso.org
- Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy: A Hot Spot orbiting Sagittarius A* mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
- Space.com: Fastest star moves at 8% of light speed space.com
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