---
title: "A Star Is Circling a Black Hole and Its Orbit Is Absolutely Nuts"
description: "After nearly 30 years of research, astronomers found that a star orbiting a black hole does so in a rosette shape, supporting Einstein's general relativity."
date: "2020-04-16"
modified: "2020-04-16"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/star-circling-black-hole-orbit"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "General Relativity"
  - "physics"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# A Star Is Circling a Black Hole and Its Orbit Is Absolutely Nuts

![After nearly 30 years of research, astronomers found that a star orbiting a black hole does so in a rosette shape, supporting Einstein's general relativity.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/star-circling-black-hole-orbit.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: ESO/L. Calçada\</em\>*

## Cosmic Dance

A star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way has a bizarre orbit — but also one that strongly supports Einstein's theories.

After monitoring the star, dubbed S2, for 27 years straight, astronomers from the Max Planck Institute determined that it traces a distinct flower-like shape as it orbits, *[CNN ](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world/star-black-hole-dance-einstein-relativity-scn/index.html>)*[reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world/star-black-hole-dance-einstein-relativity-scn/index.html>). The fact that the star makes **[a rosette](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR4EzyUv_fs>)** as it travels supports Einstein's [theory of general relativity](<https://futurism.com/massive-gravity-theory-universes-biggest-paradox>), which predicts that such a pairing would remain dynamic instead of fixed in a set, ellipse-shaped orbit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR4EzyUv_fs

## Exhaustive Evidence

S2's orbit around the black hole Sagittarius A\* isn't the first evidence for the theory of general relativity — but the research, [published last month](<https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2020/04/aa37813-20/aa37813-20.html>) in the journal *Astronomy & Astrophysics*, strengthens the idea even further.

"This famous effect — first seen in the orbit of the planet Mercury around the Sun — was the first evidence in favor of general relativity," Reinhard Genzel, director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, [said in a press release](<https://phys.org/news/2020-04-eso-telescope-star-supermassive-black.html>). "One hundred years later we have now detected the same effect in the motion of a star orbiting the compact radio source Sagittarius A\* at the center of the Milky Way."

## Indirect Discovery

The decades of data have an added bonus — it helps confirm scientists' theories about the size and behavior of the black hole itself.

"This observational breakthrough strengthens the evidence that Sagittarius A\* must be a supermassive black hole of 4 million times the mass of the sun," Genzel added.

**READ MORE:** [Astronomers saw a star dancing around a black hole. And it proves Einstein's theory was right](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/world/star-black-hole-dance-einstein-relativity-scn/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on general relativity:** *[New Theory Could Solve Universe’s Biggest Paradox](<https://futurism.com/massive-gravity-theory-universes-biggest-paradox>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)