some stars orbiting the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole appear deceptively youthful. But unlike humans tagged posts

New Research Traces the Fates of Stars Living Near the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Stellar collisions produce strange, zombie-like survivors
This illustration shows the orbits of stars very close to Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Credit: ESO / L. Calçada / Spaceengine.org

Despite their ancient ages, some stars orbiting the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole appear deceptively youthful. But unlike humans, who might appear rejuvenated from a fresh round of collagen injections, these stars look young for a much darker reason.

They ate their neighbors.

This is just one of the more peculiar findings from new Northwestern University research. Using a new model, astrophysicists traced the violent journeys of 1,000 simulated stars orbiting our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).

So densely packed with stars, the region commonly experiences b...

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