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The vicinity of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way\u2019s center, is hyperactive. Stars, gas, and dust zip around the black hole\u2019s gravitational well at thousands of kilometers per hour. Previously, astronomers thought that only mature stars had been pulled into such rapid orbits. However, a new paper from the University of Cologne and elsewhere in Europe found that some relatively young stars are making the rounds rather than older ones, which raises some questions about the models predicting how stars form in these hyperactive regions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Astronomers have known about the highly mobile stars surrounding Sgr A* for over thirty years now. They even have their own categorization, known as S stars. However, researchers lacked the equipment to analyze the age of some of these stars, and theories pointed to older, dimmer stars being the most likely to survive near a black hole.<\/p>\n But then, as it does so often with science, evidence that challenged the old and dim star theory began to pile up. Twelve years ago, researchers found an object they believed was a cloud of gas that was in the process of being eaten by Sgr A*. More recently, evidence has begun to hint that that gas cloud might surround a newly born star, known as a \u201cYoung Stellar Object\u201d (YSO) in astronomy jargon.<\/p>\n \n