A GROUP of young stars has been spotted dangerously close to the giant black hole at the centre of our galaxy – only the second such group known to be braving the region’s extreme conditions.
Two years ago, astronomers found the first cluster of young stars 0.7 light years from the black hole. How they got there is unclear, because the black hole’s gravity ought to tear apart the clouds of gas and dust from which new stars form. The cluster may have formed farther out in the galaxy and migrated inwards, held together from within by the gravity of a…
