Hi everyone,
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Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest moving stars ever, and it appears to have been flung out of our galaxy by the supermassive black hole that lurks in the heart of the Milky Way. Lowell Observatory’s own Deputy Director for Technology, Kyler Kuehn, is one of the discoverers.
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The star, named S5-HVs, is traveling at a speed of nearly 4 million miles per hour. Tracing its orbit back in time, astronomers conclude that it must have passed near the center of the Milky Way, home to our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. The black hole’s intense gravity flung the star with such force that it will eventually escape our galaxy, destined to wander the dark void between galaxies.
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What actually happened is a little more complicated. The escaping star was probably once a member of a binary star system – two stars that dance around each other, locked in a gravitational embrace. When the pair wandered too close to the black hole, one of the stars ‘changed partners’ and began to orbit the black hole instead. The jilted and now partner-less star was then tossed out of the galaxy by the black hole, who is clearly a bully.
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Here’s a nice animation of what astronomers think happened:
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If you’d like to know more, just click on the links below:
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www.space.com
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And if you’d like to read the original (technical) paper, you’ll find it here.
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Congratulations to Kyler Kuehn and his team for their exciting discovery!
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Best regards,
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Michael
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Dr. Michael West is Lowell Observatory’s Deputy Director for Science. Follow his AstroAlerts to receive breaking news stories from the world of astronomy, odd bits of astronomical lore, and information about upcoming astronomical events. You can reach him at mwest@lowell.edu or follow him on Twitter @curatedcosmos.[vcex_spacing size=”10px”]