Fastest-known star zooms under Milky Way black hole's influence

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 : Scientists have detected the fastest-known star, a stellar speedster that is zooming around the supermassive black hole residing at the center of our galaxy and might hold the key to measuring the spin of this celestial beast for the first time.The star, around 50 per cent more massive and five times brighter than our sun, travels at speeds up to about 56 million miles (90 million km) per hour as it orbits the Milky Way's central black hole — named Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. That is more than 8 per cent the speed of light. No other star in our galaxy or elsewhere has ever been clocked at that speed.The star, named S301, is traveling in a highly elliptical path around Sgr A*, taking about 8.7 years to complete an orbit. Its closest approach to the black hole is about 11