Young stars near a black hole

Artist's impression of young, blue stars encircling a supermassive black hole at the core of a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way. Stars are known to exist close to our galaxy’s central black hole, but astronomers have long wondered whether they formed there or whether they migrated inwards from elsewhere in the galaxy. Elizabeth Humphreys and colleagues have now discovered two newborn stars near the galactic centre, proving that the former is possible. (Courtesy: NASA, ESA, and A. Schaller, STScI).

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