S62 is a star in the cluster surrounding Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. S62 orbits Sgr A* in 9.9 years, one of the shortest orbital period of any star around Sgr A*. The current record holder, S4716 has a 4.0-year period.
In addition, S62 has a highly eccentric orbit which makes it pass very close to Sgr A*, only 16AU, less than the distance between Uranus and the Sun. The star therefore passes only about 215 times the Schwarzschild radius of Sgr A* (the Schwarzschild radius of Sgr A* is approximately 0.082 AU, or 12 million km).
S62 passes so close to Sgr A* that its orbit has a very large precession: its orbit shifts by about 10° with each revolution. At closest approach, its velocity is about 0.10c (10% of the speed of light) relative to Sgr A*. S62's most recent approach to Sgr A* was towards the end of 2022.
The discovery of S62 improved the bounds on the mass distribution in the center of the Galactic Center, showing that are concentrated within 16 AU of the center, fully consistent with Sgr A* being a supermassive black hole.[1]