The observation of X3

In Peißker et al. (2023), we identify several substructures of the bow shock source X3. This object was observed initially exclusively in a wavelength range that shows mainly dust emission. It was assumed that there was no star at the location of X3. Based on data spanning nearly 30 years, we were able to show that there is a star at the location of X3. Moreover, this star, named X3a, is very young, very heavy, and very large. The exciting question now is how X3a got so close to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Simulation: PION () Data: ESO (VLT)/Keck foundation (KECK)