Astronomers have long believed that the region around the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, is one of the most dangerous places in our galaxy.
With its immense gravitational pull, the black hole was expected to tear apart any nearby stars or gas clouds. But new observations from a powerful instrument in Chile are turning that assumption on its head.
An international team led by Dr. Florian Peissker from the University of Cologne used a new tool called ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) at the Very Large Telescope to take a closer look at several mysterious “dusty objects” orbiting Sagittarius A*.
Earlier studies suggested these objects might eventually be ripped apart or swallowed by the black hole.
The new findings, however, show that these objects follow stable orbits and are far more resilient than once believed.
One of the most debated objects is G2. For years, scientists thought it was just a cloud of dust and gas drifting dangerously close to the black hole.
Many expected it to be stretched and destroyed—a dramatic process known as spaghettification.
But ERIS observations revealed something unexpected: G2 moves in a stable orbit, suggesting it likely contains a star hidden inside its dusty shell. This discovery shows that the center of the galaxy can support stable star systems, not just destroy them.
The team also examined a rare and remarkable system called D9, which they first reported in 2024. D9 is a binary star system—two stars orbiting each other—located incredibly close to the black hole.
In theory, the black hole’s tidal forces should disrupt or even merge the two stars. Yet the new data show that D9 remains intact and stable. This marks the first time a binary star system has been confirmed so close to a supermassive black hole.
Two other objects, X3 and X7, were also found to maintain surprisingly steady orbits. All four objects appear far more robust than earlier models predicted, supporting the idea that stars can survive even in extreme environments.
Dr. Peissker calls the findings “fascinating,” noting that Sagittarius A* is less destructive than previously believed.
The galactic center, he says, is an ideal place to study how stars interact with black holes because it offers a natural laboratory with extreme but stable conditions.
The results also show that star formation near black holes may be more complex. According to astronomer Michal Zajaček, the black hole may help create exotic dusty objects or even trigger the formation of new stars by influencing mergers between binary systems.
Future observations with ERIS and the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will help scientists track these objects over time. These powerful instruments may reveal how stars not only survive but possibly form and evolve in the most extreme corners of the universe.
