Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2026

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 the European Southern Observa- tory’s Very Large Telescope Interfer- ometer (ESO’s VLTI) and reaches speeds of 25,000 km/s as it travels around the four-million-Solar-mass black hole. It comes closer to it than any other observed before, so close that it feels the effects of the black hole’s rotation. “Decades carefully tracking stars or- S301 is affected by the rotation of Sagittarius A* A stronomers have discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbit- ing the black hole at its centre. The star, named S301, was detected with by ESO Bárbara Ferreira T his stunning snapshot, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), reveals the stars and gas sur- rounding an invisible giant — a su- permassive black hole, located some 27,000 light-years away. This is a hugely dynamic environment, with stars and gas clouds hurtling by the black hole at dramatic speeds. [ESO/D. Ribeiro for the MPE GC team]