21-06-2024, 02:31 PM
A mysterious Planet Nine, J1249+36 is one of just a handful of hypervelocity stars identified in the Milky Way
"hypervelocity" stars are extremely rare, but we've just spotted a particularly special example.
A star named CWISE J124909+362116.0 (J1249+36 for short) not only exceeds the galactic escape with a velocity at around 600 kilometers (373 miles) per second, it's a very rare type of tiny, ancient, main sequence star called an L subdwarf, which happens to also be one of the oldest in the Milky Way.
First spotted by citizen scientists combing through telescope data for signs of the – and although far from the fastest we've seen, it represents something of a challenge to astronomers; namely, how did it get so breathtakingly fast?
"hypervelocity" stars are extremely rare, but we've just spotted a particularly special example.
A star named CWISE J124909+362116.0 (J1249+36 for short) not only exceeds the galactic escape with a velocity at around 600 kilometers (373 miles) per second, it's a very rare type of tiny, ancient, main sequence star called an L subdwarf, which happens to also be one of the oldest in the Milky Way.
First spotted by citizen scientists combing through telescope data for signs of the – and although far from the fastest we've seen, it represents something of a challenge to astronomers; namely, how did it get so breathtakingly fast?