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Gaaark writes:

More mystery objects detected near Milky Way's supermassive black hole

Astronomers have discovered several bizarre objects at the Galactic Center that are concealing their true identity behind a smoke screen of dust; they look like gas clouds, but behave like stars.

[...] "These compact dusty stellar objects move extremely fast and close to our Galaxy's supermassive black hole. It is fascinating to watch them move from year to year," said [Anna] Ciurlo. "How did they get there? And what will they become? They must have an interesting story to tell."

[...] GCOI [UCLA's Galactic Center Orbits Initiative] thinks that these G-objects are the result of stellar mergers—where two stars orbiting each other, known as binaries, crash into each other due to the gravitational influence of the giant black hole. Over a long period of time, the black hole's gravity alters the binary stars' orbits until the duo collides. The combined object that results from this violent merger could explain where the excess energy came from.

Original Submission