Sagittarius A* vicinity hosts newly discovered binary star system

Astronomers have identified a binary star system, named D9, orbiting near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Located approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth, this discovery challenges previous assumptions that the intense gravity and stellar interactions near such a massive object would prevent the stability of complex stellar pairs.

Using the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, an international team studied stellar movements over a fifteen-year period. Instruments including SINFONI and ERIS detected periodic variations in gas velocity, confirming that D9 consists of two stars orbiting a common center of mass within the S cluster. This finding suggests that the environment surrounding supermassive black holes may be more conducive to stable configurations, and potentially even planets, than previously believed.