NEW YORK: Astronomers have recently discovered a star that travelled at the speed of 2.7 million mph, fast enough to neglect the pulling force of the galaxy’s gravity. This has been referred to as Hypervelocity stars, the Science Magazine has categorized.
University of Hawaii astronomers found the fastest star, yet, in the Milky way, which is located on a path outside of the galaxy. These astronomers have shared that the star, specifically called the US 708, has escaped the gravitational pull and has been predicted to enter the intergalactic space, eventually.
The US 708, first observed in 2005, was back then a typical red giant star within the binary star system. It has been hypothesized that until the star was freed of hydrogen and some helium content by an energy sucking orbiting partner, it detonated into a massive supernova. The explosion was huge that it was able to ravage and catapulted remains of the US 708 under a speed greater than any of the galactic matters.
Eugene Magnier, an astronomer at the Hawaii University at Manoa and lead author of the study said, “At the speed, you could travel from Earth to the moon in five minutes,” the University of Hawaii published.
Also, the astronomers have discovered that the US 708 isn’t the first star to move fast enough and escape the galaxy’s gravitational pull, but is the only star that has been observed to have been slingshot due to a supernova explosion.
