S2

Yes.

From our research notes, this is the star cataloged as S2 by the European team or S02 by the American team, and its orbit is relatively short, right?

Yeah, about 16 years.

Right.

So astronomers have actually watched it complete more than one full lap around the dark center.

And we really need to pause and appreciate how fast S2 is moving here.

Oh, it's flying.

It really is.

Astronomers have tracked several dozen stars in precise detail over 25 years.

One particularly famous star called S0-2 orbits so close that it completes one full revolution in just over 16 years.

At closest approach, S0-2 comes within 93 billion miles of the black hole's event horizon.

Its orbital velocity reaches about 4,000 km per second, nearly 1% the speed of light.

The star's orbital motion exactly matches the predictions of Einstein's general relativity.