Stars Blazing Fast Orbit Around The Milky Way's Black Hole

[glenc]

S0-102's Blazing Fast Orbit Around The Milky Way's Black Hole
Black holes may not be so dangerous to stars after all. The discovery of a star named S0-102 may help reveal whether Albert Einstein was right in his fundamental prediction of how black holes warp space and time - it orbits the enormous black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy in a blazing 11.5 years.
http://www.science20.com/news_articles/sagittarius_discovery_s0102s_blazin g_fast_orbit_around_milky_ways_blac k_hole-94862
also http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-05/racing-star-could-prove-einsteins-theory/4296980

[mental4astro]

I couldn't see in the article if these stars go behind the black hole in their orbit relative to us. Or how close their leeward approach is. Such an event could add greatly too to what can be gleaned about space and time distortion.

A very interesting article, Glen. I wonder how far away from the black hole these stars are? Would have been nice to get some stat's such as the eccentricity, and some maximum and minimum approaches. And the type of stars they are and their velocities around the black hole.

I'll put the geek back in the bottle now, :rolleyes:

[glenc]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-03/scientists-shed-light-on-space-geysers/4450956

A team of astronomers observing the phenomenon from a telescope in the New South Wales town of Parkes say the so-called space geysers are being spewed out of newly-formed stars - and not from a black hole at the centre of the galaxy as previously postulated...

From top to bottom the outflows extend 50,000 light-years out of the galactic plane, equal to half the diameter of our galaxy.