Starlight stretched by Milky Way's black hole proves Einstein right

A star hurtling towards the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way has helped astronomers test Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, showing that the theory holds up even under some of the most extreme conditions found within our galaxy.

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory observed a star very near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The star, called S2, passes less than 20 billion kilometres from the black hole, or about four times…