Astronomers from the University of Cologne, Germany, have discovered the first-ever binary star system orbiting the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way, shedding light on the extreme environment surrounding the black hole.

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• Discovery led by Florian Peißker, using the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory.
• Binary star system, named D9, orbits Sagittarius A*, a black hole 27,000 light-years from Earth.
• Binary systems consist of two stars orbiting each other; about one-third of stars in the Milky Way belong to such systems.
• Detection was made using the Doppler effect, showing a “wobble” in the starlight due to orbital movement.
• D9 is approximately 2.7 million years old, with the stars likely forming outside the black hole’s extreme surroundings.
• Finding suggests these stars have survived about a million years near the black hole without disruption.
• Offers insight into how black holes interact with and influence stars in their orbit.
• Helps address cosmic mysteries, including why some stars move through space faster than others.
• Binary star systems provide vital data for understanding stellar masses and dynamics.