Fri 21st of Aug 2026 UTC
Astronomy.co.uk Moon Phase Widget
Age: 9 days old
Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 65%
Distance: 405,079 km
from the NASA archive - 21st August 2026

What does it feel like to zoom around a spinning supermassive black hole?

The featured video is an animation showing a time-lapse of 4 years of observations of the star S301 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the 4-million-solar-mass black hole in the center of our Galaxy. S301 was discovered in 2023 with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Astronomers recently found that S301 takes approximately 8.7 years to go around the black hole and reaches speeds of 25,000 km/s. It comes closer to the black hole than any other stars detected before, at a distance similar to that from Saturn to the Sun. Because it comes so close to Sagittarius A*, S301 could be used to directly measure how fast the black hole spins and test Einstein's theory of general relativity. According to the theory, a spinning black hole drags the fabric of spacetime around itself, affecting the orbits of close-by objects.

Astronomy.co.uk Star Naming Service

Name a star for yourself or for that special person as the perfect gift that will sparkle for a lifetime! Ideal for any occasion, birthdays, christenings, anniversaries and memorials. Reserve a place in the heavens for your loved ones

Astronomy.co.uk
19th November 2025 at 15:31
https://www.astronomy.co.uk/astronomy-picture-of-the-day/
Likes: 0 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
1st May 2025 at 09:19
Th Sky Tonight - May 2025
Likes: 0 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
18th December 2024 at 10:01
https://www.astronomy.co.uk/the-sky-tonight/
Likes: 0 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
8th February 2022 at 00:25
The Pinwheel Galaxy -NASA
Likes: 5 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
17th January 2022 at 16:33
The first Full Moon of 2022, known as the Wolf Moon, will occur tonight! Throughout cold January nights, the howling of wolves could be heard around villages in both Europe and America, so the January Full Moon became widely known as the Wolf Moon. The exact time of the Full Wolf Moon is January 17, 2022, 23:48 GMT
Likes: 9 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
16th January 2022 at 14:07
The Lagoon Nebula - Hubble
Likes: 15 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
5th January 2022 at 10:54
This is a small section of the Cygnus supernova blast wave which appears as a delicate streak of light. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Blair; acknowledgment: Leo Shatz
Likes: 8 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
4th January 2022 at 10:01
An exploding star ! Hubble
Likes: 11 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
3rd January 2022 at 12:12
The station crew sees 16 sunrises a day, and they officially started 2022 at 12am GMT.
Likes: 5 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
2nd January 2022 at 09:07
The Snow Angel Nebula - Hubble
Likes: 17 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
1st January 2022 at 09:04
Crescent Earth The Earth as seen from the Moon on the Command Module of Apollo17 on December 16, 1972. Credit: @NASA (image #AS17-152-23274); Processing: @JPMajor
Likes: 12 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
31st December 2021 at 11:25
Dolphin head nebula located near the center of the constellation Canis Major
Likes: 10 Comments: 0
Astronomy.co.uk
30th December 2021 at 13:57
DEM L249, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is an unusual supernova remnant. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Chou (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
Likes: 8 Comments: 0