Astronomy Picture of the Day · August 21, 2026

Time Lapse of the Star S301 Orbiting the Black Hole in the Center of the Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 21, 2026 is “Time Lapse of the Star S301 Orbiting the Black Hole in the Center of the Galaxy,” a video. It is credited to ESO/GRAVITY collaboration/L. Calçada. The original explanation runs about 158 words.

Watch the video on the original page

Credit & License: ESO/GRAVITY collaboration/L. Calçada Shown from the original page. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What does it feel like to zoom around a spinning supermassive black hole? The featured video is an animation showing a time-lapse of 4 years of observations of the star S301 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the 4-million-solar-mass black hole in the center of our Galaxy.”

— APOD editors, August 21, 2026

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: August 21, 2026
Type: Video
Credit: Credit & License: ESO/GRAVITY collaboration/L. Calçada
Copyright: No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 158 words

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Topics in this entry

Galaxies Black holes

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: August 21 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, August 21, 2026 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod/apod-2026-august-21-time-lapse-of-the-s301-star-orbiting-sagittarius-a

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.