40 Real Stars Around a Black Hole Compared: How Do They Move?

Forty real stars circle Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Every orbit comes from telescope measurements, and all forty run on one clock: 1 second = 2 years, starting with the real dates of 1992. Watch how slowly a star drifts far out and how fast it swings past the black hole. Each time a star is closest, it plays a note. The camera moves in for real close passes, like S2 in 2018, and turns the view so a tilted orbit shows its true shape. 00:00 Into the centre of the Milky Way 00:24 Orbits of 4 to 20 years 01:14 Orbits of 37 to 59 years 01:59 Orbits of 77 to 108 years 02:44 Orbits of 135 to 346 years 03:24 Orbits of 406 to 664 years 04:04 Orbits of 877 to 3,580 years 04:44 All 40 stars together More in this series: 15 Real Planets With Two Suns (   • 15 Real Planets With Two Suns Compared: Ho...  ), 56 Real Moons Compared (   • 56 Real Moons Compared: How Do They Move?  ) and 30 Real Planetary Systems Compared (   • 30 Real Planetary Systems Compared: How Do...  ). Which stars: every closed orbit in Gillessen et al. 2017 (39 stars) plus S4716 (Peissker et al. 2022). S2, S29, S38 and S55 use the newer GRAVITY 2022 orbits. S111 is left out because its fitted path is not closed. Data checked on 29 October 2026. Model: independent Kepler orbits seen from Earth, no relativity. Speeds come from Kepler's laws with 4.3 million suns at 27,000 light-years; for S2 that gives 7,750 km/s (GRAVITY reports about 7,700). The black hole and stars are drawn far larger than life, years after 2026 are predictions, and the notes are artistic. S175's orbit is uncertain, so its speed is not shown. Sources Gillessen et al. 2017, An Update on Monitoring Stellar Orbits in the Galactic Center: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa5c41 GRAVITY Collaboration 2022, Mass distribution in the Galactic Center: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202... Peissker et al. 2022, S4716, a star with a 4 yr orbit around Sgr A*: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac752f